Thursday, July 30, 2009

Thursday

Bow ties with tomatoes, feta and grapes (recipe in the comments)
Steamed fresh green beans and wax beans

Hot tea
______________________________________________________________
We're, once again, adding to our repertoire of summer entree salad. I am always a fan of mixing grapes or other sweet fruit into more savory dishes and so this was an automatic recipe for us to try. While you do cook the pasta, everything else is chopped fresh or whisked together and just combined for an easy and relatively heat free cooking process. Since it's actually gotten relatively warm here this past week, that's very nice. The outcome was good, but not perfect. We both thought it was better without the feta cheese, which was too pungent. I might try a mild goat or even some shredded Monterrey Jack. Otherwise, very yummy and we'll be working on perfecting it :) Our initial ideas for changes are in the posted recipe.

Prep Notes
Difficulty: Easy
Chopping: Tomatoes, grapes, basil
Time: 30 minutes
Make ahead: I think this would save fine.

Reaction
J: "Yummy, but a bit too many flavors."
M: "Summery."

1 comment:

J said...

Bow Ties with Tomatoes and Grapes – M & J (Inspired by Cooking Light)
Serves 4

¾ lb bow tie pasta
1 pt grape tomatoes, halved
1 cup seedless green grapes, halved
½ cup thinly sliced fresh basil leaves
2 T balsamic vinegar
2 T chopped shallots
1 t capers, rinsed
1 t Dijon mustard
1 large clove garlic, minced
½ t salt
¼ t pepper
2 T extra-virgin olive oil
⅓ cup shredded Monterrey Jack or other mild cheese

Cook pasta and drain. Combine cooked pasta, tomatoes, grapes, and basil in a large bowl.

While pasta cooks, combine vinegar and next 6 ingredients (through pepper) in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Gradually add oil to vinegar mixture, whisking constantly. Drizzle vinaigrette over pasta mixture; toss well to coat. Add cheese; toss to combine.