A comment by Margie (thanks, sweetie!) over on the HappySimple Facebook page helped to push me to start writing about food and sharing some of our favourite recipes. She wondered how we combine “chef in the house” with “simple”.
(And if you’ve not yet joined the community, please do. It’s where I go on weekends when I’m not posting here. A simple ‘like’ is all it takes.)
Yes, sometimes “chef in the house” leads to a three-day marathon of cooking. We call it entertainment. But most of the time it means simple, tasty, really healthy food.
So for this first cooking post, I’m going to share our favourite summertime pasta dish. It is, seriously, faster than any convenience food you can find and way better for you.
Put a pot of water on to boil. Then chop up a couple of fresh, ripe tomatoes. Put them in a bowl with salt, pepper, a splash of olive oil and fresh herbs to taste. Basil is brilliant for this, but you can use combinations of whatever you have fresh. I really like a combination of mint, chives and lovage.
If you don’t have fresh herbs, don’t worry about it. You’ll still have a tasty meal without them!
Leave all this to sit and combine flavours while you cook up your pasta. We usually throw extra in the pot so I can eat up the leftovers for lunch the next day.
When the pasta’s cooked, drain it, toss it with the tomato mixture and dinner’s ready!
I recommend eating this outdoors, with good crusty bread to sop up the juices and a bottle of good red wine.
Linger, if you possibly can….
Arugula…and slivers of sweet onion.
I’ll bring the bread.
Just say when, Douglass!
Wow! This sounds great…and simple…and I like the part about the wine.
One ? What is lovage and where do you get it?
Lovage is a perennial herb with a strong celery taste. A couple of leaves will flavour a whole pot of soup.
I have some in my garden that I’d be happy to share – though it might be better to wait till next spring at this point.
Keep the food posts coming! Please.
I’m thinking every Thursday to give people time to make plans for the weekend.
This is the blog I’ve been waiting for!! Already looking forward to Thursdays!
ps I have a veritable hedge of lovage-come pick some anytime!
Oh wonderful. And to think I’d been hesitating to post recipes… Silly me!
I would love love love some lovage. Could I please have a bit of a root. I can get it going in my garden before it gets too cool. I am a farmers daughter! I’ll trade you for a jar of green tomato pickle. I tried my hand at canning and preserving this summer.
Yummmmmmmmy!
I’ll message you with the details..