Pasta with Fresh Tomatoes

This dish is so fast and easy that I had everything ready before the water boiled and the pasta cooked. It features cherry tomatoes and is the essence of summer. If you use cherry tomatoes from your garden, it costs less than $1 per person. Add a salad and you've got a tasty weeknight meal.

Here's what you do

Put water on to boil for your pasta. Small compact shapes are nice with this, but anything will do. I used half a pound for two of us and we had about 1/3 of it left over. We also didn't have salad or bread, so we ate more pasta than we otherwise would have. The recipe says 1/2 pound feeds 4 people.

In a large bowl combine the following:

• 3 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 shallot, minced
• 2 T. capers, rinsed
• 1/3 cup pitted olives (the recipe called for Nicoise, but I used kalamata)
• 6 basil leaves, slivered or torn (I used lemon basil which has much smaller leaves, so I just grabbed a small handful)
• 3 T. of your best olive oil
• salt & pepper to taste

When the pasta is cooked to your liking, drain it and add it to the bowl. Stir quickly to coat with the olive oil. Breathe deeply because this smells FABULOUS. You can add a few drops of balsamic vinegar if you like. I forgot to do this and it was wonderful without it (and you KNOW how much I love vinegar.) Serve immediately.

For some of you, it may be strange to have pasta with no cheese. If you're tempted to add cheese, at least try several bites without it. The flavors of the tomatoes and olives really get to shine if you keep this dish simple.

Things I'd Do Differently Next Time

I'd like to try this dish with Smoked Olive Oil next time. If you haven't tried smoked olive oil, you should look it up at www.thesmokedolive.com. It is pricey, but worth every penny. You can find it at the Santa Rosa farmers market (Sonoma County) where you can try before you buy.

Cost to Prepare

Pasta - $.75

Cherry tomatoes - from the garden

Shallot -

Garlic - $.05

Olive oil - $.40

Basil - from the garden

Capers - $.50

Olives - $.75

S&P - negligible

TOTAL COST - $2.45 (serves 3-4 people)

Baked Kalamata Olives

I've been making these wonderful olives for years. This recipe comes from another of Deborah Madison's cookbooks, "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone". I know it sounds odd to bake olives, but once they've simmered in the oven in the wine, olive oil, garlic and spices, they get plump and juicy, and the smells in your kitchen elicit sighs of happiness. I usually make these in the winter, but they're a wonderful accompaniment to any meal. I have put them in gift baskets at the holidays and served them at Thanksgiving. Every time my daughter's boyfriend comes to visit, this is what he wants me to make.

The recipe calls for Kalamata olives with the pits in. This is how I usually make them, but lately I've gotten lazy and used pitted olives. They are usually cheaper and they save you some time since you don't have to poke each one after they come out of the oven. If you're making them for the first time, I recommend that you use Kalamata's with the pits still in.

Here's what you do:

Rinse 2 cups kalamata olives and put them in a baking dish large enough for them to be in one layer. Add 1/2 cup dry red wine, 2 T. olive oil, 1 clove sliced garlic, and 1 bay leaf. Cover and bake at 375º for about 45 minutes.

While they're in the oven, chop 2 cloves of garlic and pound it in a mortar with 2 T. marjoram, 1 T. parsley, and a few grinds of pepper. When the olives come out of the oven, poke each one with the tip of a knife. Stir in the garlic-herb paste, 2 T. olive oil, and several pinches red pepper flakes.

Serve with crusty french bread. You can dip your bread in the extra juice from the olives.

Cost to prepare:

2 cups kalamata olives - $5.00

1/2 cup dry red wine - $1.00

4 T. olive oil - $1.00 (?)

3 garlic cloves - $.50

bay leaf, red pepper flakes, 2 T. marjoram, 1 T. parsley - $.75 (?)

Total - $8.25 and SO worth it

The best grilled cheese sandwich I ever ate

I haven't had grilled cheese sandwiches in years, but this version has made me a true believer again. This is the grown up version - with olive tapenade - but just like the kid version it is still fast and easy to prepare.

The olive tapenade takes about 10 minutes to prepare, but in our highly scientific taste test, we found that it was fresher and tastier than what we usually buy at Trader Joe's. It keeps for quite a while in the fridge and is really easy if you have a food processor. The recipe calls for nicoise or gaeta olives, but I used kalamata because they were easier to find and less expensive than buying the other varieties at the olive bar. I have recently found that you can buy kalamata olives at Costco and they are perfect for this recipe.

To make the tapenade, combine the following in a food processor and pulse, leaving a little texture: 1 cup olives (see comment above), 2 T. rinsed capers, 2 garlic cloves, grated zest of 1 small lemon or half a large lemon, lemon juice to taste, 1 T. chopped parsley, freshly ground pepper, and 4-6 T. olive oil.

To make the sandwich: Slice 2 pieces of rustic whole wheat or italian bread. I used sourdough from my local bakery. Cover one slice with a thin swipe of tapenade, then add sliced cheese over that. The recipe calls for carmody or teleme cheese because they melt well, but I used marinated mozzarella and it was super yummy! Top with the second slice of bread and lightly butter it or brush the outside with oil. Set the butter side down into a hot skillet. Butter the top of the second piece. Cover and cook over medium-low heat until crisp and golden. Cook on the other side. Take your time so that the cheese melts without burning the bread.

Add some greens and a glass of wine and you have an excellent meal.

Cost to make the tapenade. This really depends on where you get your olives. I made a double batch because the container of olives I got was about 2 cups. I also recently got kalamata olives at Costco for $5.99 for a 1.5 liter jar. I think there are about 4-5 cups of olives in the jar. If you buy olives at your local olive bar, they'll run you about $10/lb which I think is about $5.00 per cup. I get my organic, extra-virgin olive oil at Costco. It has an excellent flavor and costs $21.00 for 3 liters. This makes it $7.00/liter or about $1.75 per cup (about 11 cents per tablespoon). Capers are also widely variable in price. For the batch I made with the 2 cups of olives costing about $5, here's the cost:

2 cups kalamata olives - $5.00

4 T. capers - $.50

1 lg. lemon - $.50

2 T. parsley - negligible

4 garlic cloves - $.50

6 T. olive oil - .65

fresh ground pepper - negligible

TOTAL - $7.15 for 2 cups, so about $3.60 per cup

Trader Joe's costs $3.00 per 8 oz. jar. I think it's definitely worth making your own for the really fresh flavor.

The cost of the sandwich is also highly variable depending on the kind of bread and the kind of cheese you use. The marinated mozzarella cost $5.50 for an 8 oz. braid. I used about 1/8 of it, so that's 69 cents. I get 12-16 slices of bread per loaf, so at $4.50 per loaf, that's .28 - .37 per slice. You're supposed to use very little tapenade, but I love it so I probably used 2 t. per sandwich. That still makes each sandwich about $1.00 - $1.25. Not bad for the best grilled cheese sandwich ever!