Hello, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back! I found this cookbook at the library and thought it might have a great way to use up some of our fresh tomatoes.
It's called (sideways) The Southern Italian Table. I looooooove Italian food. GIMME, GIMME.
I sent some kids out into the garden to get tomatoes. (It occur to me that by the time you read this, it will be October. So, imagine it's summer time.)
Chop the tomatoes, and throw in a pan with the basil. Add two teaspoons of olive oil.
Mmmm. I love the way they smell. Mix everything together and mash well. Let it boil for about 20 minutes so the water is mostly reduced. Some people add a little salt or brown sugar, but this was a pretty simple sauce.
I decided to make some stuffed pasta shells to put the sauce on, so mix two eggs, a carton of ricotta cheese, a cup of parmesan shredded cheese, 2 tsp salt and 2 tsp crushed garlic. Boil the shells, rinse in cold water, stuff, pour on the sauce and bake in the oven.
Have a great weekend and see you all soon!
I had to look up capers 'cause I didn't know what they were. I thought they were a fish of some kind. :-) Just call me a plain Jane cook. I bet the flavour was incredible because the tomatoes were so fresh. Yum.
ReplyDeleteI used to think the same thing, Kav! LOL But then I had them on a pizza and fell in love with them. They're kind of salty and tart, like Susanna said.
DeleteKav, I ate capers for years until one day my kids asked me what they were and I googled. Pickled flower buds?? lol. So funny. I had no idea what I was eating.
DeleteI've never had them on a pizza but when I lived in college I always loved a lox and caper bagel at my favorite bagel shop!
DeleteI had a fish dish with capers once - it was pretty good. seems like they were salty/sour. I get them mixed up with anchovies and I think anchovies are those fuzzy dried fish things- blech.
ReplyDeletedarned mosquitoes here are driving me nuts..open the door for 2 seconds and then swat for hours :-( and the breakfast tacos I got out of bed, dressed somewhat, drove to get , drove back to eat, let the skeeters in...were a bit disappointing :-( think I should crawl back into bed and see if I can snooze some more than start a better day LOL!
Susanna
Hmmm, breakfast tacos. I'm not sure about that. I love tacos and I love breakfast, but together? hmmmm...
DeleteAnd the weather has changed here to we're mosquito free! I'm so sorry you're still fighting them. I hope they freeze out soon.
breakfast tacos are homemade flour tortilla (different at each place), scrambled egg, and bacon and potato ismy fave combo at this place- egg and potato at another.they also have chorizo(notmy fave), sausage, ham, beans...cheese..they're delicious!
DeleteSusanna
Oh, right! My husband makes those but we eat them anytime. And no, I'm not a chorizo fan, either. I like the smell of the spices, but the additives usually give me a headache.
DeleteWe use a variation of this and throw in tuna fish and black olives and pour on fuscilli noodles. Delish! One of our favorite meals.
ReplyDeleteYUMMY. That sounds like I need to try it!
DeleteOh, those gorgeous tomatoes!!!! Just the photo made my mouth water. YUM.
ReplyDeleteThat looks amazing, Virginia. I need to make this. It's been years since I've done any kind of stuffed shells. Thanks for the reminder!
It's funny... we're drowning in tomatoes for a few months and I think I can't eat any more. And then fall hits and I'd give a pretty penny for a fresh, garden tomato!
DeleteI've always wondered about capers but stuffed shells is a stand by for me. Yum. Thanks, like Missy, I needed the reminder.
ReplyDeleteI haven't made them in at least a year because everyone here prefers lasagna. But they were a hit!
Deletespeaking of Italian...Olive Garden has been advertising their neverending pasta bowl and 2 of my faves are on it - marinara sauce and fettucini alfredo...along with the breadsticks and salad...wondering if I can talk the after church lunch bunch into going..3 are easygoing but we have a picky one (thankfully I happen to like the picky one's favorite pick but still...)
ReplyDeletewhy oh why am I used to night shift and wanting this at 10:15 pm when everything is closed?! probably from being used to night shift...olive garden and red lobster need all night drive-thrus...
Susanna
MMMMM!!! But you could live in a tiny town in Eastern Oregon and the nearest Olive Garden is 2 hours away! I've eaten there once, when I was traveling in Seattle. I remember it was pretty nice!
DeleteAnd I hear you on the late night eating. I had to stop going on Pinterest late at night because I was driving myself crazy looking at tasty goodies. You can't just start cooking at 1AM!
well I only slept a few and there was no choice but to cook a breakfast wrap thingy at 3 am...was starving!
DeleteSusanna
Sometimes you just have to eat! I was up late working a few nights ago and my husband got up for work at 3:45 and found a full breakfast waiting for him. He said, "I could get used to this all-nighter thing you're doing." I told him not to get too comfortable because there's no way I can go without sleep all together!
DeleteBut it was definitely fun eating breakfast together because that's certainly not a meal we usually share, since he gets up so early.
My husband loves capers. I love most anything with tomatoes, basil and garlic. So this looks YUMMY. Thanks, Virginia.
ReplyDeleteAnd it can go on anything, not just stuffed shells. My friend saw this and added it to sliced eggplant and baked it!
DeleteYum, that looks good. I'm going to make this for dinner tomorrow night. I have a jar of capers in the fridge and have no idea what to do with them.
ReplyDelete