Friday, August 22, 2008

Pasta, Salad and an Award!

I love blogging and food bloggers are turning out to be some of the best people anywhere. I guess maybe it's because we all share a common bond and are doing this because we have such a huge passion for it. Pretty sure none of us are being forced to do this?

That's why it is so incredible when you receive an award from one of your blogging friends. It's a form of validity...hey, someone really likes what I am doing! My sincere thanks go out to Val from More Than Burnt Toast for giving me this award. It came on the end of a pretty challenging time so it was doubly appreciated.

Brilliant Weblog is a prize given to sites and blogs that are smart and brilliant both in their content and their design. The purpose of the prize is to promote as many blogs as possible in the blogosphere.

Here are the rules to follow :
When you receive the prize you must write a post showing it, together with the name of who has given it to you, and link them back.
Choose a minimum of 7 blogs (or even more) that you find brilliant in their content or design.
Show their names and links and leave them a comment informing they were prized with ‘Brilliant Weblog’.

The hardest part about getting these awards is trying to come up with just a couple of names to pass this onto!

In no particular order:

Nikki - The Canarygirl
Robin at Caviar and Codfish
Jenn - The Left Over Queen
Heather at Gild the Voodoolily
Nuria at Spanish Recipes
Peter at Kalofagas
and last but not least Courtney at Coco Cooks

Thanks again Val!!!


Dinner last night was a thrown together meal of pasta and salad. The girl's are back in school today after their Hurricane Day on Tuesday which means homework and helping with the homework and redirecting to get them to do their homework etc... You get the idea. Homework is not the best time in our household. While my oldest daughter was doing hers I decided to make some of my favorite summer pasta dish. Pasta with Basil, Fresh Tomatoes and Roasted Garlic. This time though I just didn't feel like roasting the garlic so I minced it up and tossed it in with all of the other ingredients. It made the raw sauce taste even fresher than it did before if that was possible!

Pasta With Fresh Tomato, Garlic and Basil

8 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
3/4 lb ripe plum tomatoes (I just use whatever is tasting good right them)
1/3 C fresh basil (chopped)
1 Tbsp capers
1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
1 box of long thin pasta (angel hair, linguine, spaghetti)

Directions:
  • Dice the tomatoes (if the have a ton of seeds squeeze them out).
  • Add the garlic, basil, capers, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
  • Let stand for at least 20 minutes.
  • Cook pasta.
  • Mix sauce with pasta and serve warm or at room temperature. Add salt and pepper to taste.
I served the pasta with a herb salad mix and this nice, light and well balanced salad dressing.


Todd English's Lemon Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove minced
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh sage leaves (optional)
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (optional)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper


Instructions:

• Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Transfer to a jar. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

19 comments:

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

Our kids go back to school after Labour Day. My daughter has rented a moving van to get her and her stuff back to university. I know we will have this dish before she goes it is still one of our favourites. I always add Parmesan, feta or ricotta as well.Gotta have my cheese:D

Reeni said...

I have about a million red tomatoes and basil that's grown to insane proportions in my garden just begging to be used. I love this recipe!

Laura Paterson said...

Congrats on the award - and weirdly this is almost exactly what I'm having for dinner tonight!!

Heather said...

Congratulations, Judy! And thank you so much for passing the torch on to me. :D

I didn't grow any basil this year, but I still have time to throw some in a pot to put in my mini-greenhouse. That pasta looks so fresh and tasty!

Mike of Mike's Table said...

Congrats on the recognition and that pasta looks beautiful. Usually, I'm not one for a very chunky style tomato sauce, but I would definitely gobble that one right up. It looks really tasty

glamah16 said...

Thank you darling!Im glad you made it through the storms and all.Thats my type of dinner!

Thistlemoon said...

That looks like a wonderful, fresh and healthy meal! :)

Thanks for the award Sweetie! You are brilliant! :)

NKP said...

Congratulations on your well deserved award!
And that pasta? My favourite kind of dinner, hands down.
Cheers!

MrOrph said...

Congrats on the award. You really do deserve it.

That pasta needs some bacon, I think. :-) Other than that it is brilliant!

Susan @ SGCC said...

This is one of my fave ways to make pasta! It looks wonderful!

Anonymous said...

The pasta looks great! I know you all had a rough week with the weather and glad you made it through it.
Congrats on your award.
Have a wonderful weekend.

Judy@nofearentertaining said...

Hey Val-Isn't it strange that the kids go back so early here? They are out by the end of May though. We dump a pile of parm on this as well!

Hi Reeni-This is my favorite of all time.

Hi kittie-Thanks so much and hope you enjoyed your dinner!

Hey Heather-Thanks. Ah basil you can by but cool to have a greenhouse!

Hey Mike-Thanks. Even if you don't like it chunky give this a try. It is almost salad like but not quite!

Thanks Courtney!

Hey Jenn-back at ya!

Hi Natashya-Cheers to you!

Hey MrOrph-Aye-you guys and your pork fat!!!

Thanks SGCC!

Hey Pam-I hope you got some badly needed rain from all of this! Hope your weekend is wonderful as well!

rhondas view said...

ummm... 'yum!' on the pasta! i can't wait to try this one out. :)

Darius T. Williams said...

Yum to the pasta and the salad - definitely a great dinner!

-DTW
www.everydaycookin.blogspot.com

superfinefeline said...

Congratulations on winning the award!

I've tagged you for a meme whereby you are requested to post 6 random facts about yourself in a blog entry. More details available here:

http://superfinefeline.blogspot.com/2008/08/random-facts-meme-tagged-by-kian.html

I hope that you will keep the ball rolling.

Cheers!
superfinefeline

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much, Judy!!!

The girls are in school so early!! We (I work in a high school so I always feel like a kid when summer comes to an end and we have to go back to school, yuck!) go back on Sept 3. I'm definitely cherishing my last summer week!

Thanks again!!!

Anonymous said...

What a gorgeous dinner! Congratulations on your award, Judy! So well deserved. :) And thank you for awarding me, too! XO

Judy@nofearentertaining said...

Hey Rhondas view-Yummy it is!

Hi Darius-thanks so much!

Hi superfinefeline-Thanks on the tag-i will try and get to it this week!

Hey Robin-They are back really early but thy get out real early too!

Hey Nikki-Congrats to you Nikki!

Núria said...

Hola Judy! I missed it the other day... thanks so much darling :D. I'll hang it in my blog proudly!
What has pasta that anytime, anywhere, anyhow looks so good and delicious? Mmmmm