Tomatoes + Parsley = Quickest Pasta Recipe Ever (p.s. your toddler will eat this!)

I don't think you can possibly find a quicker pasta recipe than the one I am about to lay before you.  Aside from opening up a jar of something, this has got to be it.  And, it's much more satisfying not to mention delicious.

It's a great way to use those beautiful tomatoes that are spilling off the stands at the farmers markets these days.  If the heirloom varieties weren't $4/lb at my local farmers market, I would totally have used them.  Instead, I got the cheaper plum tomatoes (a mere $1.50/lb).  They didn't disappoint.  The tomato flavor really sings in this dish, and you can appreciate the fresh taste since the tomatoes stay raw.

The secret, I think, is that by tossing the warm pasta with the sauce, the pasta drinks in all the flavors and what you end up with is something savory yet refreshing.

So here it is.  Make it while the pasta cooks.

Quickest Pasta Recipe Ever

Ok, so it's a little more than just tomatoes + parsley, but it takes minutes to make!  If you make this in the summer, use as much fresh basil as suits your taste.  Since we're well into fall here, I chose dried basil.  Adding fresh parsley, which I keep in a pot on a sunny windowsill, brightens up the dish and kind of fools you into thinking the basil is fresh too!

3-4 large plum tomatoes, chopped

1 tbsp dried basil (or 1/4 c fresh chopped basil)

1/4 c fresh parsley, chopped

1/8 c olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 lb whole wheat penne

Start boiling the water for the pasta.

Chop tomatoes and parsley, toss in the bowl with the olive oil.  Take dried basil and, rubbing it between your palms to freshen the herb, add it to the tomatoes.  Mince the garlic, and add it to the tomatoes, along with the salt (optional: I like to mince the garlic with the kosher salt, it kind of mashes the garlic down even further, which is nice since you won't be cooking this sauce).  Toss well.

While you're making the sauce, add the pasta to salted boiling water and cook according to package directions.  While the water is boiling/pasta is cooking, your sauce will have a chance to set.  Drain cooked pasta and immediately toss with the sauce. If you like, top with shavings of parmesan or pecorino romano.  Enjoy!

Like this recipe? Let me know!  Have a quicker pasta idea?  Share it!

UPDATE: Toddler Alert!  My super picky eater / toddler extraordinaire ate this all up!  So for all of you out there trying to shove food into your toddlers or other picky eaters at your dinner table, try this!

Grapes for Autumn + Falling for Hugs

It's hard to believe it's September, that Labor Day has now come and gone.  Autumn will be creeping in soon.  The temperature will be dropping, the leaves will be changing, and the days will be smaller, shorter.  Everything seems to get smaller in the fall.  After the haziness of summer, when the sky is bright blue and endless and the oppressive humidity makes everything blurry, fall brings with it a clean crisp wind that clears the air and brings everything into focus.  I think it also has something to do with the angle of the light, the way the sun highlights the trees and the sides of buildings, always golden and poignant.

Fall is full of poignant moments.  Maybe it's that the days are getting shorter, and subconsciously we want to make every moment significant.  For me, the moments are often small: noticing a wall of morning glory covering what once was an ugly chain link fence; listening as the sounds of piano playing waft through the air shaft.  The most beautiful moment to date, however, was last night, just after I gave my daughter her good night bottle, put her over my shoulder to burp her, and received the sweetest hug, her head tucked into the crook of my neck and her arms thrown around me.

It's going to be fall soon.  I love the moments that season will bring. 

One thing that heralds the beginning of autumn-- grapes.  I'm not talking about the jumbo seedless red ones I buy year round in the supermarket, but the small, tender green and black grapes that I find now in the farmer's markets.  They're twice the price as the supermarket variety, so I can't justify buying any, and I had to satisfy myself with taking pictures... and tasting one.

So good.

A Midsummer's Day's Musing

We went to the park today.  Today was one of the rare days when it was actually hotter in the park than outside.  Normally the park is a haven from the heat-- it's shady, breezy, and isolated from the heat that collects on the city streets.  Normally, we lay out, spread a blanket on the grass, and stare up at the blue blue sky while the little one watches all the bigger kids play ball on the field.  Normally our view is something like this:

But today it was muggy, buggy and overall just an unpleasant place to be.  I dragged my poor family to the park, however, because it was the farmer's market today, and we made a new resolution (call it a midsummer's resolution) to buy three different vegetables every week so that we could incorporate more fresh produce into our diets.  Last week it was beets.  Big mistake.  Beets, I believe, are not one of those vegetables that must be purchased fresh to enjoy.  To make most recipes, you have to roast or boil them, and to be honest, it was so labor intensive I lost all appreciation for the vegetable.  Maybe I just don't have the beet gene. 

But I digress. 

Anyway, this new resolution of ours has been working out well.  We got fennel and kale (we still have beets left over from last week, so we only got two more this week).  I found a recipe for fennel and sardine pasta sauce that I'll try out later and let you know about.  Kale is always good, and we throw it in everywhere. 

So today was productive, but hot.  No laying out for us today.  But we'll have vegetables for the week.  Recipes to come.