Summer Pasta

Every Saturday I make the weekly grocery list. I try to only go to the grocery store once a week, on Sunday mornings. I find that is the perfect time of the week to go to the grocery store (especially in my conservative neighborhood) because many people go to church that time of day. I've cut our grocery bills by quite a bit by limiting the number of times we go to the store. If I go to the store more often, I see more things I think we need and end up buying wasteful food that isn't necessary. Even if it might be yummy.

Whenever I make my weekly list I ask V if he has any requests. Usually he doesn't, or it's something silly that I ignore. But this week he requested fish. I don't like fish, it smells bad and has a weird consistency. But, V is normally willing to eat whatever I make so I figured I should make something he specifically requested. I looked online and found a recipe for slow-roasted salmon. You roast the salmon in the oven for 20 minutes with salt and pepper and a sprig of dill sitting on top to infuse the fish. However, that's not how he cooked it.

It's now Thursday and he just ate the darn salmon. Thankfully it didn't seem to get bad and I frozen the chicken I had purchased to make skewers this week. He just wanted grilled salmon. Fine with me. No mess and less heat in the house.

While I was wandering through the grocery store I found that it actually carries heirloom tomatoes. Not a bunch and they are hard to find but they are there! So I picked up some angel hair pasta and figured I'd make a light summer pasta to go beside the fish. I put 3 glugs of extra virgin olive oil in a skillet and heated it with one finely minced clove of garlic. Basically I wanted the garlic to cook because I was afraid the raw garlic would be overpowering. Then I took the skilled off the heat and tossed in the large-diced tomatoes with salt and pepper. I let that sit about 10 minutes. The salt and heat brought out some tomato juices. Then I tossed it with the pasta. It was pretty tasty but I felt like it was lacking something. It didn't quite satisfy me. Maybe the raw garlic would have been better? Or basil? I can't figure it out. But it was still pretty decent.

Summer Time

No post this weekend. Just chilling by the pool.

Beautiful Combinations

V and I have black thumbs. Well, maybe not black but definitely not green. Maybe brown, we do well with dirt. We are trying to slowly plant lots of pretty bushes around the house to brighten things up. He planted some lilacs in the backyard that are very pretty and I planted some hydrangeas and azaleas. None of them are flowering very much. I'm hoping they just need a year or two to get settled in to the ground before they start to flower. But this weekend V described my flower bed as looking like something from The Nightmare Before Christmas. That was not very nice.

Our neighbor, on the other hand, is a great gardener. They had about 50 tulips this spring lighting up the yard. She's thinking of planting some watermelons, and in her backyard they have a huge garden. I know she grows tomatoes and zucchini but I don't know what all else. This weekend she was working in her garden while V was outside working on the deck (the new stain looks nice but it shows dirt like crazy). She was nice enough to give him some of her tomatoes. I've been going to the farmer's market on Saturdays but the last few weekends I've been busy and couldn't make it. I used to think I didn't like tomatoes. It turn out I don't like the flavorless store bought ones. The farmer's market and our neighbor's tomatoes are all so yummy and flavorful.

I decided to have tomatoes for dinner tonight. I bought two mini baguettes, a ball of mozzarella, and a pork chop (for V) and we had 4 garden-fresh tomatoes. For V I put butt rub all over the pork chop about an hour before I wanted to cook it. Then I stuck it in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes. We could have grilled it but it seems like a waste of propane to heat up the entire grill for one little chop.

V's side was sliced tomatoes with salt and pepper. He didn't want much mozzarella so he just got two slices and a little bread. I made myself a tomato and mozzarella sandwich with balsamic vinegar. Yum balsamic. I saved the other mini baguette and I'm going to make a small panzanella in a few days with the last tomato, mozzarella and I think I have a cucumber in the fridge. I would highly recommend any of these as a yummy summer meal. Enjoy!

P.S. - I realize the photo is sideways. I don't know how to fix it on the blog.