Tag Archives: basil

Fresh Tomatoes for Pasta

One of the best things about summer are the variety of fresh tomatoes that are available at the food markets right now. My favorite tomato is the local Beefsteak tomato. The may look ugly but the taste is rich and flavorful.

I can’t get enough of them so I eat tomatoes almost every day, preferably with just a simple vinaigrette on a slice of homemade sourdough bread topped with mozzarella. The tomatoes are also great in a watermelon salad with feta cheese. Another of my recent favorites is a tomato salad with red onions, celery and middle eastern string cheese. The string cheese is often spiced with black cumin (Nigella sativa) which gives this pleasant cheese an interesting flavor.

As an appetizer, a fresh tomato salsa, spiced with cilantro, chili and garlic is never wrong. If I’m starving and too lazy in the summer heat I turn pretty much the same thing into a cool tomato sauce for pasta.

Fresh Tomato Sauce
(serves two persons)

2 large tomatoes
½ red onion
Fresh chili pepper (amount depends on how spicy you want it)
Plenty of chopped fresh basil
2 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar *
3 tablespoons olive oil
A dash of lime juice
One teaspoon mustard
Salt & pepper
Honey (optional)

Topping (suggestions)
Freshly grated Parmesan
Toasted sunflower seeds

Wash the tomatoes and chop them into smaller pieces. Chop the onion and the chili (adjust the strength to your own liking) into tiny tiny bits and pieces. Rinse the basil and chop the leaves roughly. Place all the prepared ingredients in a bowl and squeeze in 1-2 garlic cloves. Mix together vinegar, olive oil and mustard. Season with lime juice, salt & pepper. If you like you can also add some honey to the dressing but if you are using a sweeter mustard that may not be necessary.

Serve this cold tomato sauce on your favorite pasta topped with freshly grated parmesan and toasted sunflower seeds.

* It works perfectly well with other kinds of vinegar such as balsamic, apple cider or white whine vinegar.

This article was originally published at EcoSalon, August 21 2012 

See related recipe, Tomato sauce

 

Two Different kinds of Pesto: Sorrel and Basil & Celery

Some may think it’s silly to grow your own sorrel when you have it growing wild just around the corner. As the cultivated sorrel has a slightly milder and nicer flavor I believe its a great idea to include this sour and lemony herb in a  garden plot.

Its best is to harvest the young light green leaves, as when the leaves gets older and larger (darker green) they get tough and unpleasantly sour. Sorrel can be cooked like spinach for soups and omelets or raw in salads and pesto (see below). I also think the sourness in this pesto works terrifically well with fish, poached or cured. Spread on cracker this sorrel pesto can be a simple and delicious appetizer.

Sorrel Pesto

about 2 cups of young sorrel leaves
2 garlic cloves
a handful of walnuts
fresh red chili to your own taste (I use about ½”- 1″ depending on hotness)
½ cup grated parmesan
olive oil
a few sprigs of parsley (optional)
season with: salt and pepper

Pick about 2 cups of very young Cultivated Sorrel leaves. Rinse the leaves in cold water and drain while you prepare the other ingredients. Chop the walnuts and the chili a little. Grate the Parmesan roughly.
When the sorrel is dry, run them in the food processor (or use a mortar and pestle). Add chopped garlic and run the machine a bit before adding chili, walnuts, (parsley) and parmesan. Drizzle some olive oil over. Blend the mixture carefully as it should have a crunchy texture. If necessary add some more olive oil. Season with salt and fresh pepper.

Note: Sorrel contains plenty of vitamins but the plant contains some oxalic acid which is not healthy if eaten too much (especially if your body easily creates kidney stones). I think to have sorrel on a few occasions over the summer can hardly harm you.

This spring I have seeded plenty of basil and they are now all growing on my window sill. They are doing well but are still too small to be harvested. If you don’t have the patience to seed basil you can of course buy a plant from the plant shop. You can also sometimes find small pots at the vegetable shop which work really well replanted in a larger and nicer pot. I use basil to spice up almost any vinaigrette and as a main herb when making hazelnut baked cauliflower. Why not try basil as a flavor in cocktails! I like it with cucumber in my favorite summer drink pimm’s cup. Even if it’s well known, I still think basil on fresh tomatoes and mozzarella is magical.

This basil pesto is made with the addition of celery stems (and leaves) that gives a nice grassy flavor. Instead of pine nuts I use walnuts (or roasted sunflower seeds). I use this basil pesto with spaghetti, as side to vegetable patties or on bread topped with tomatoes.

Basil & Celery Pesto

2 stems of celery
about 2 cups basil leaves
two cloves of garlic
handful walnuts (or sunflower seeds)
½ cup fresh grated parmesan
olive oil
salt and pepper

Rinse the basil leaves carefully under cold water. Set aside and let dry while preparing the other ingredients. Chop the celery and garlic into small pieces. If the celery comes with leaves I would add them to the pesto as well. Mix all ingredients in a blender, starting with the basil, garlic and some olive oil. Add the celery, walnuts and lastly the grated cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Add as much olive oil as you like. Use less if you like to spread the pesto on bread and more if serving with pasta.

Both of these pesto variations, when packed nicely in a jar, are a great summer present – especially when you have a place in your garden where sorrel or basil grows better than any flowers.

If you like to learn more about sorrel I suggest reading Sarah Smith’s article about sorrel at The Foodie Bugle and Clotilde Dusoulier’s 50 Things To Do With Fresh Sorrel post.

Over at Food52 you can follow Amy Penningtons City Dirt column on how to grow plants from seeds etc.

this article was originally published at Ecosalon

 

 

Hazelnut Baked Cauliflower


This summer, when I’ve had the house full of guests, I’ve been in need of simple things that can be done quickly and feed several people. One of our favorites has been this Hazelnut Baked Cauliflower that we’ve served together with different kinds of salads or BBQ (works both with vegetables and meat).

one head of cauliflower
olive oil
fresh basil and oregano
garlic
handful of hazelnuts
salt and pepper
juice from ½ lemon

grated parmesan

Rinse the cauliflower and break up the florets into smaller pieces. Place them steams down in one layer on an oven dish. Chop basil and oregano finely and mix with olive oil, minced garlic and chopped hazelnut. Season with salt, pepper and some lemon juice. Pour mixture over the cauliflower and blend together. Let soak for 15 minutes. Bake in the oven at 400°F (just over 200°C) until al dente. Sprinkle a rich amount of grated parmesan on top. Serve immediately.

Pesto

In my pesto I use walnuts instead of pine nuts because it has a stronger taste. I have also done this with parsley instead of basil.

pesto

a bunch of basil leaves
2-3 cloves of garlic
ca 125 ml (½ cup) walnuts
ca 125 ml (½ cup) fresh grated parmesan
olive oil
salt and pepper

Mix all the ingredients in a blender, starting with the basil leaves, garlic and some olive oil. Add the walnuts and for last the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. If necessary add more olive oil.

Serve with fresh pasta or egg pasta and a simple tomato salad. Great with red wine or a bubbly prosecco.