Caprese Pasta

Is there anything better than a Caprese salad made with juicy summer tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, garden basil, sweet balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper? It's one of the pure joys of this time of year, and it was the inspiration for this pasta dish. The sauce is made from ripe tomatoes and fresh basil, and it requires no cooking. It has all the flavors of a Caprese salad, making it a great, simple summer dinner.

Caprese Pasta

-3 large ripe tomatoes, quartered
-3 cloves garlic, peeled
-handful of fresh basil leaves, torn
-3 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
-1/2 cup olive oil
-pinch of crushed red pepper
-salt & pepper

-1 lb. whole wheat angel hair pasta

-fresh mozzarella, cut into bite size pieces
-cherry tomatoes, quartered
-pine nuts
-small basil leaves for garnish

-Place the tomatoes, garlic, basil, red pepper and vinegar in a food processor and blend, drizzling the olive oil in as it spins. Blend until almost smooth. The sauce will be soupy. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Place in refrigerator for at least 20 minutes to marinate.

-Cook pasta according to package. Drain well, put back in pot, and toss with sauce.

-Serve topped with mozzarella, cherry tomatoes and pine nuts. If you have a good aged balsamic for drizzling, this is the dish to use it on.

pork tacos with green tomato salsa

I picked up some goodies at my local farmer's market over the weekend. I had no plans for what to get when I went, so it was sort of random. An ugly heirloom tomato (which I ate by itself with salt and pepper.... one of the absolute joys of summer), a green tomato, and orange tomato and a head of cabbage. I also had 2 more Cayenne peppers from my little garden. Hmmmm. When it doubt, make salsa, right? Right. That's what happened with the tomatoes and pepper. What about the cabbage? I had salsa, I had tortillas... I love cabbage on fish tacos. Boom fish tacos. Too bad I didn't have fish in the freezer like I thought. I did have some pork chops though. Pork tacos. It was fate.

Green Tomato Salsa

-1 large green tomato, diced
-1 medium orange tomato, diced
-1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
-2 cayenne peppers, minced
-3 cloves garlic, minced
-handful of thinly sliced green onion
-1 Tablespoon agave nectar
-Juice of 1 lemon
-1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
-salt & pepper

-combine all ingredients. Store in fridge.


Pork tacos

-3 boneless pork chops, sliced thin
-1 teaspoon cumin
-1/2 teaspoon coriander
-1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes
-1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
-2 teaspoons Mexican oregano, ground between your palms
-1 Tablespoon Tapatio hot sauce
-2 Tablespoons tequila
-1 Tablespoon olive oil
-salt and pepper

Marinate the pork slices in the rest of the ingredients for at least 20 minutes. Heat a bit of oil in a skillet, add the pork, marinade and all to the skillet, and cook until the pork is no longer pink. Add a splash of water to the skillet, turn down the heat, and let the pork simmer for about 10 minutes. Serve on toasted flour tortillas with shredded raw cabbage and green tomato salsa.