Life is Just a Bowl of Cherry Tomato Sauce

Sometimes one needs comfort food, even in the midst of a hot, dry summer. For me, comfort food has always been pasta of some sort -- maybe because it was always my mother's welcome-home food of choice. Or maybe it's the combination of carbs and cheese. Or just maybe it's because you can sit down to a steaming bowl of pasta with butter, garlic, and parmesan within say, ten minutes or so of realizing you're starving. Whichever, I was hungry for pasta. And I wanted something more substantial than a seasonally appropriate fresh, barely cooked tomato sauce.

Luckily that day was Copley Square farmers' market day in Boston. The Atlas Farm people had a lovely selection of cherry tomatoes -- and I had a recipe I was eager to try: Nancy Harmon Jenkins' Pasta with Baked Tomato Sauce, which I found courtesy of the food blog Wednesday's Chef.

Basically, you cut the cherry tomatoes in half, then top them with a mixture of dried bread crumbs, minced garlic, and parmesan and pecorino romano cheeses. I beg you, do not under any circumstance use the kind of dried breadcrumbs that come pre-packed in a tin. Make them yourself, as they provide an essential taste and texture to the dish. Once you make sure the bread crumb mixture has compeltely permeated the tomatoes, you bake them until they just start to brown on top.

Meanwile, cook some pasta. (I was lucky enough to have some fresh tomato basil spaghetti from Terra Cotta Pasta of Kittery Point, Maine in the fridge.) The only trick is to try and time the cooking of the sauce and the pasta so that both are done together. Just before serving, you toss the pasta and tomato mixture together with some torn basil leaves and enough olive oil to make a bit of a sauce, and you've got a feast that will no doubt leave you feeling very comforted, indeed.

The recipe says it serves four -- but I found it made a lovely dinner for one, with enough leftovers for a very satisfying lunch.

Pasta with Baked Tomato Sauce ala Nancy Harmon Jenkins

from Wednesday’s Chef

Serves 4

Ingredients
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil (I used about half that)
1 pound very ripe cherry tomatoes, halved
1/3 cup plain dry breadcrumbs (Remember, no pre-packaged stuff!)
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano
2 tablespoons freshly grated pecorino (or, if you don't have this, just more Parmigiano)
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 pound dried penne or spaghetti
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves, torn

Preparation
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 13-by-9-inch baking dish with one-third of the oil. Place the tomatoes cut side up in the dish.

2. In a small bowl, combine the bread crumbs, cheeses, and garlic and toss with a fork to mix well. Sprinkle the bread-crumb mixture over the tomatoes, making sure that each cut side is well covered with the crumb mixture. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake until the tomatoes are cooked through and starting to brown on top, about 20 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente. Time the pasta so it finishes cooking about the time the tomatoes are ready to come out of the oven.

4. When the tomatoes are done, add the basil and stir vigorously to mix everything into a sauce. Drain the pasta and immediately transfer it to the baking dish. Add the remaining olive oil and mix well. Serve at once.

Crushed Potato Salad: What a Bite

I get positively giddy the moment the first new potatoes appear in the farmers' market or in my CSA basket. I particularly like them when they're small enough to be eaten in just a single bite. I roast them in olive oil with some garlic, salt, and herbs, and when they're cool enough, just pop them into my mouth. I absolutely adore the way that floury potato flavor explodes with every bite. Perfection.

Of course, once I've eaten those little roasted potatoes a number of times, and as the smallest ones get harder to find, I start looking for other ways to cook new potatoes. A couple of weeks ago, long before potato season, a recipe from one of my favorite blogs, The Wednesday Chef by Luisa Weis, caught my eye: Ottolenghi's Crushed Potatoes with Horseradish and Yogurt. (Ottolenghi is Yotam Ottolenghi, the chef-owner of four veggie-centric restaurants that are all the rage in London. He also writes a vegetarian food column in the Guardian.) I don't know what appealed to me more -- the idea of crushed  potatoes or the thought of horseradish.

While I was dying to try the recipe right away, I decided to wait until new potatoes were in. My patience was greatly rewarded. It's actually a potato salad, but it's unlike any other you've ever tasted. The horseradish (I used lots!) gives the potatoes a zingy, assertive bite, while the yogurt adds a tangy, creamy taste. The Wednesday Chef recipe was adapted from one that appeared in Ottolenghi: The Cookbook. 

While Ottolenghi's original recipe calls for Greek yogurt, Weis strongly recommends against it -- she feels the salad really needs the moisture and silkiness of regular plain yogurt -- Liberté brand, if you can find it.  (See her comment/correction to the previous version of this post below.) I have the good fortune to be able to get Brookford Farm  yogurt at both the Portsmouth farmers' market and Philbrick's Fresh Market in Portsmouth. The yogurt is made in the East European style by a charming young couple, Luke and Caterina, from the milk from their herd of grass-fed Jerseys.

This potato salad is incredibly easy to make -- and it's one  you could take to a picnic without worrying about the food-poisoning potential of mayonnaise. Ottolenghi also has a website that features a number of his recipes. I suspect I'll be going back there soon for more ideas.

 

Potato Salad with Yogurt and Horseradish

from Wednesday's Chef, based on a recipe from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook.
Serves 4

Ingredients
2 1/4 pounds of new potatoes
10 ounces, plus more to taste) plain yogurt
3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon, or more, of prepared ground horseradish (I used about half a bottle!)
4 scallions, thinly sliced (white and pale green parts)
Coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
A small box of garden cress (You could also use arugula or watercress)

Instructions
1. Wash the potatoes, but don't peel them. Put them in a pan with salted water to cover, cover, bring to a boil and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, until tender. Drain well, transfer to a large serving bowl and, while they are still hot, crush them roughly with a fork.

2. In a small bowl, mix the yogurt, olive oil, horseradish, scallions, salt and pepper to taste. Pour this dressing over the hot potatoes and mix well. Adjust the seasoning, adding more horseradish or more salt. You want the dressing to be assertive - the potatoes will mellow it out. Just before serving, snip in the garden cress and mix once more.