Do I need more stuff hanging off my keychain? No. No I do not. Between the gym card, the library card, the supermarket card, and the all-important coffee card ("In case of emergency, apply caffeine directly to veins"), there's barely room for the keys. But the Post wrote up a bottle opener/iShuffle holder, and now I can think only WANT WANT WANT. Of course, it would increase the aggravation factor, already quite high, of losing my keys.
The weather's too ghastly for much outside time, but I scuttled out in the early morning and hit the farmers market for peaches and fresh tomatoes. A friend recommends cutting up tomatoes and basil with a bit of salt, leaving them to sit for 15 minutes, then mixing the resulting juice and pulp with fresh pasta for a low-effort summer treat. I may insult his vegan sensibilities by adding a bit of goat cheese, but otherwise it sounds tasty and easy. The dry weather has been great for tomatoes this year; they're abundant and intensely flavorful.
The peaches are likewise excellent this time of year. The super-ripe ones from the farmers markets need just a bit of blanching to slip from their skins; a bit of careful knifework and a frozen piecrust later, they're ready for the oven. A tiny bit more effort to make a basic egg custard (ta, Weebat), and all that remains is to resist the temptation to eat the thing whole. Heat, sugar, and peaches: Ecce marvolo.
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Re: that summer pasta. I make a similar one with chopped garlic, basil, and tomatoes. Boil pasta of choice in salted water. Fry the garlic in some olive oil. Add chopped tomatoes. Add a wee bit of salt. One minute before pasta is done, drain it, then dump into sauce. Add basil. Stir for a minute. Sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top. Enjoy.
I'll have to try this other version soon.
It's a similar principle--the salt draws juice out of the tomatoes, and the heat of the pasta cooks the pulp a bit--but with one pot instead of two.
I also like Making Light's recipe for a tomato-bread salad. It doesn't look like much on paper, but the finished product has just enough fat to enhance the flavor of good tomatoes, and it's like eating a good tomato sandwich without having to worry about dripping.
The perfect accompaniment is fresh lemonade with a sprig of mint or a bit of muddled basil. One of these days I'll get the proportions right for lemon poundcake with shredded basil; I had it once at Teaism and was impressed.
I was just in a California supermarket where I was so overwhelmed by the beautiful inexpensive fruit that I bought several pounds of nectarines, peaches, grapes, and apples. At the checkout stand there was a magazine cover of an Italian summer pasta similar to the ones we've been talking about except with shrimp fried in garlic.
This weekend, given the opportunity, I want to try the peach meringue pie recipe. It involves more actual cooking than the earlier version, but it sounds irresistible.
Shrimp fried in garlic...possible, possible.
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