In the July/August 2007 issue of Cook's Illustrated, they had a recipe for "Pasta Caprese" - which, in essence was looking at a way of translating the traditional Caprese salad into a pasta dish. The problem that they looked to solve for was how to keep the fresh mozzarella from "gumming up" when heated up in the mix of pasta and fresh tomatoes. Their solution - dice the mozzarella and freeze it first.
Well, what I decided to do below was a little different - I had a variety of fresh/heirloom tomatoes from the CSA and some farmer's markets, and in order to "even out" the quality of those tomatoes, I rough-chopped them, tossed them with some olive oil and some salt, and broiled them briefly. I hesitate to link the recipe because the site archives are pay-for (worth it, btw), but you basically toss a pound of linguini with tomatoes (call it a pound and a half to two pounds), diced mozzarella, and a dressing of sorts that is heavy on the basil, a bit of garlic, a dash of sugar, and some lemon juice...
I still froze the mozzarella, but seeing as how I was taking it to work for a lot of lunches, I found that as long as you only warmed up the pasta and did not heat it through on full-blast, the cheese did not get too gummy. I also added the parsley from the CSA, some green onions, and the onions (diced) from the CSA. When broiled, the tomatoes let off a lot of juice - this basically becomes the sauce (picture of the concoction in the metal mixing bowl).
Definitely a winner - most likely will look to do this again shortly.
Well, what I decided to do below was a little different - I had a variety of fresh/heirloom tomatoes from the CSA and some farmer's markets, and in order to "even out" the quality of those tomatoes, I rough-chopped them, tossed them with some olive oil and some salt, and broiled them briefly. I hesitate to link the recipe because the site archives are pay-for (worth it, btw), but you basically toss a pound of linguini with tomatoes (call it a pound and a half to two pounds), diced mozzarella, and a dressing of sorts that is heavy on the basil, a bit of garlic, a dash of sugar, and some lemon juice...
I still froze the mozzarella, but seeing as how I was taking it to work for a lot of lunches, I found that as long as you only warmed up the pasta and did not heat it through on full-blast, the cheese did not get too gummy. I also added the parsley from the CSA, some green onions, and the onions (diced) from the CSA. When broiled, the tomatoes let off a lot of juice - this basically becomes the sauce (picture of the concoction in the metal mixing bowl).
Definitely a winner - most likely will look to do this again shortly.
1 comment:
Drool! This is evil. This blog should block my isp before lunch...
Post a Comment