Naan

Paul is a wonderful cook.  He likes to make ethnic food...Mexican, Thai, and especially, Indian food.  Some time ago, he showed me how to make naan, an Indian bread similar to pita bread.  Now I make the naan and he makes the rest of the meal.

Naan is really easy to put together.  The base is flour, salt, baking powder, and yogurt.  This is all kneaded together and sits to rise for a couple of hours.  Once the dough is ready, it is cut into pieces and rolled out into rounds.  One at a time, the rounds are slapped onto a hot cast iron skillet for a few minutes until they begin to puff up.

Then the whole pan is stuck under the broiler for a few more minutes until the top starts to color.  When you take it out, you have a big puffy pillow of naan.

It's the perfect foil for spicy Indian food and  the leftovers make great "pita" sandwiches.
As Paul always says, "It's a naan starter."

Tomato Inspiration

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth...but I haven't written anything in a couple of months.  I have no excuses, just temporary lack of inspiration.  Then the tomatoes started to ripen.  Ahhh, homegrown tomatoes.  I know I've sung their praises before but I just can't help doing it again. 

We love just about any fresh tomato pasta sauce around here but  we do have a couple of real favorites.

I made one of them just the other night.  It doesn't have a fancy name, just Fresh Tomatoes with Fettuccine or something like that.  It has a sort of Mediterranean feel to it.  It's easy to riff on but here are the basics.  Most every fresh tomato pasta sauce I know starts with 1 1/2 pounds of fresh tomatoes, diced.  This one adds 1/4 cup of finely diced red onion, 1 diced clove of garlic, 1/2 cup of crumbled feta cheese, about a cup each of chopped parsley and fresh basil, and a handful of kalamata olives.  Toss all these with 2 T. of balsamic vinegar, 3 T. of olive oil, and some salt and pepper.  You can do this in the afternoon and let it sit.  Just add one pound of cooked fettuccine when you're ready to eat.  This picture is of the sauce before the pasta was added.  

Our very favorite fresh sauce is called Penne all'Insalata.  This is another one to put together in the afternoon and let it sit until you're ready to have dinner.  I think this type of dish is great for hot summer weather.  This one also starts with 1 1/2 pounds of tomatoes, diced. Put them in a bowl with about a cup of chopped basil, 3 T. olive oil, and a sprinkling of salt.  Let it sit at room temperature...the longer the better!

In the bowl you will serve the pasta in, mash together 4 ounces of goat cheese, 2 T. olive oil, and 1/2 t. red pepper flakes.  Let it sit at room temperature, too.  When you're ready to eat, cook 1 pound of penne.  Drain it and dump it into the goat cheese mixture and toss well.  Once the pasta is coated with the goat cheese, add the tomato mixture and quickly toss.  Voila!  Dinner!

Fresh tomato pasta is the perfect summer meal...no cooking to speak of and deliciousness fresh from the garden!