Pasta With Cherry Tomatoes and Arugula

My wife and I saw this wonderfully easy and delicious pasta sauce in the health section of the New York Times, and just had to try it. With fresh arugula and tomatoes from the Union Square Greenmaket already on hand, we only needed to go our local Salumeria to pick up some ricotta salata.

It is also nice that this "sauce" is also no-cook, as anything to reduce the heat in our apartment these days is much appreciated. As tomatoes are now very much in season, this recipe offers a great and simple way to enjoy them.

Summer Greenmarket Goodness

Chung Po Mook

A perfect summer side dish (PanChan) as it requires no heat, Korean Mung Bean Jelly (aka NokDuMook), is very similar in flavor and texture the other perhaps better known jellies (mook) derived from chestnuts and acorns. While these "mooks" are relatively tasteless, they have a pleasant feel on the tongue and go well with certain flavor combinations, in particular soy sauce.

For the Chung Po Mook above, my wife bought a cube of mook which was roughly the size in which tofu is also usually sold. She then sliced the cube into smaller rectangles, which she then dressed with soy sauce mixed with sesame oil, rice vinegar, red pepper powder, black pepper, sugar, sesame seeds, and green onions.

Tomato Pesto

Saw this recipe for Tomato Pesto on Serious Eats earlier this year, and we've been making it regularly since. As its super easy to make and quite tasty, I highly recommend you give it a try.

Recipe: Pasta with Tomato Pesto

Ingredients
1/4 cup (one 6-ounce can) tomato paste, preferably organic
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon pine nuts
1/4 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne or crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons tomato juice
2 plump garlic cloves, trimmed, peeled, and roughly chopped
1 pound dried mostaccioli, penne, or rigatoni
Freshly grated pecorino Romano

Procedure
1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

2. Combine the tomato paste, olive oil, pine nuts, salt, cayenne, tomato juice, and garlic in the bowl of a food processor. Run the motor until you have a smooth purée. Set aside at room temperature while you cook the pasta. (You can cover and refrigerate the pesto, but be sure to bring it to room temperature before boiling the pasta.)

3. Generously salt boiling water; drop in dried pasta. Cook, according to package instructions, until al dente. Drain, reserving about 1/2 cup of pasta water. Transfer pasta to a serving bowl. Add enough of the pesto to coat noodles generously. Add a little pasta water, 1 tablespoon at a time, if pesto seems too thick. Sprinkle with Romano, and pass more cheese and any remaining pesto at the table.

Tomato Paella

Upon reading about this recipe on Mark Bittman's "Minimalist" column in the NYTimes (See video here), HyeRyung and I both agreed it was something we had to try. However the lack of an oven-safe saucepan, late summer heat without A/C in the kitchen, crappy neighborhood tomatoes, and no saffron, our attempt at homemade Paella had to wait. Yet despite the passing of several weeks, we kept this dish in our hearts, and finally this weekend, we were able to get everything together.

Before locally grown fresh tomatoes go out of season, I highly recommend you give this recipe a try. It is easy to make and absolutely delicious!

Recipe: Paella With Tomatoes

Time: 30 minutes

3 1/2 cups stock or water
1 1/2 pounds ripe tomatoes, cored and cut into thick wedges
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, minced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon tomato paste
Large pinch saffron threads (optional)
2 teaspoons Spanish pimentón (smoked paprika), or other paprika
2 cups Spanish or other short-grain rice
Minced parsley for garnish.

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Warm stock or water in a saucepan. Put tomatoes in a medium bowl, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and drizzle them with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Toss to coat.

2. Put remaining oil in a 10- or 12-inch ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables soften, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, saffron if you are using it, and paprika and cook for a minute more. Add rice and cook, stirring occasionally, until it is shiny, another minute or two. Add liquid and stir until just combined.

3. Put tomato wedges on top of rice and drizzle with juices that accumulated in bottom of bowl. Put pan in oven and roast, undisturbed, for 15 minutes. Check to see if rice is dry and just tender. If not, return pan to oven for another 5 minutes. If rice looks too dry but still is not quite done, add a small amount of stock or water (or wine). When rice is ready, turn off oven and let pan sit for 5 to 15 minutes.

4. Remove pan from oven and sprinkle with parsley. If you like, put pan over high heat for a few minutes to develop a bit of a bottom crust before serving.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Marinara Sauce

Marinara Sauce inspired by Lidia Bastianich's Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen as adopted by Serious Eats

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 8 garlic cloves, peeled
• 3 pounds ripe fresh plum tomatoes, peeled and seeded, or one 35 ounce can Italian plum tomatoes (preferably San Marzano), seeded and lightly crushed, with their liquid
• Salt
• Crushed red pepper
• 10 fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces

Procedure

1. Heat the oil in a 2- to 3-quart nonreactive saucepan over medium heat. Whack the garlic with the flat side of a knife, add it to the oil, and cook until lightly browned, about 2 minutes.

2. Carefully slide tomatoes and their liquid into the oil. Bring to a boil, and season lightly with salt and crushed red pepper. Lower the heat so sauce is at a lively simmer, and cook, breaking up tomatoes with a whisk or spoon, until sauce is chunky and thick, about 20 minutes.

3. Stir in the basil about 5 minutes before sauce is finished. Taste sauce, and season with salt and red pepper if necessary.

Steamed Acorn Squash with Cashew Nut Dressing

HyeRyung found this simple dish in a Korean Vegan cookbook she recently picked up online (송학운 김옥경 부부,의 자연식 밥상, Song Hak Uhn and Kim Ok Kyung's Natural Dinner Table)

The squash are simply chopped and steamed for about 20 minutes or until fork tender. The Cashew Nut Sauce(the book actually calls it Mayonnaise) contains the following:

- One Lemon
- 60g Cashew Nuts
- 25g Onions
- 4Tbspns Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 5Tbspns Honey
- 1tspn Sea Salt
- 1/2tspn Minced Garlic

Once you've assembled the ingredients, just throw them into a food processor and blend until smooth. As with anything, follow your instincts and make any adjustments to the ingredients accordingly.