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omnomnomThe Turkish grocery on my street is having the most delicious vine-ripened tomatoes this year and I've been working my way happily through all the tomato recipes in my repertoire lately. I've been doing this one for years already and was quite pleased to see almost the same recipe on Kalyn's Kitchen the other day.
What you need:
Note: I'm German and and don't cook with cup measures. In fact, I'm very much a 'rule of thumb' cook and see recipes more as guidelines. My measurements usually are "a handful of this". :-) To make it easier, I went with most of Kalyn's measurements, since they sounded about right.
Serves 3-4 people
• 1 lb. fresh vine-ripened tomatoes, chopped (cherry tomatoes work as well)
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced black olives
• 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped or thinly sliced basil
• 2 tsp. finely chopped fresh oregano (or 1/2 tsp. dried)
• 1 small clove garlic, thinly sliced or pressed (see notes)
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tsp. fresh-squeezed lemon juice
• 3 oz. crumbled Feta Cheese (or more)
• salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
• 8 oz. pasta (or 8.8 oz. if you're German like me... 250g is what I use)
• generous amount salt, for pasta water
How it's done:
• Chop and slice the vegetables and herbs.
• Put tomatoes, scallions, olives, garlic and herbs into a bowl large enough to also hold the pasta. Mix well.
• Add lemon juice and olive oil, mix again.
• Let it marinate at room temperature for at least an hour.
A note on garlic: Garlic is totally optional in this, but I think it rounds up the Greek flavor nicely. If you don't like raw garlic, you can sautee it in a skillet for a minute or so in a teensy bit of oil. And if you don't own a garlic press (like me, I got fed up with cleaning the darn thing), here's a neat way to prepare the garlic: chop it up, then add a bit of salt and mash it up to a paste on the chopping board with a fork.
• When the veggies have marinated to your taste, put a medium-sized pot with water on the stove and bring it to a boil. Don't add salt just yet! (Already salted water takes longer to boil.)
• Meanwhile, add the crumbled Feta to your sauce.
• When water boils, add salt. (More than you think you need, pasta water needs a lot of salt.)
• Add pasta, cook per instructions on the package.
• When pasta is done, drain it and let it cool for a minute or so.
• Mix pasta under the sauce, add salt and pepper to taste. Serve and enjoy!
What I really love about this recipe:
Add 1/4 cup of sliced cucumbers and bell peppers each to your 'sauce' and let the pasta cool down completely before you add it and you have a pretty good Greek pasta salad. ;-) I often use only half the pasta and sauce for a 'warm meal' and prepare the rest with additional veggies as salad for later.
Bon Appetit!
What you need:
Note: I'm German and and don't cook with cup measures. In fact, I'm very much a 'rule of thumb' cook and see recipes more as guidelines. My measurements usually are "a handful of this". :-) To make it easier, I went with most of Kalyn's measurements, since they sounded about right.
Serves 3-4 people
• 1 lb. fresh vine-ripened tomatoes, chopped (cherry tomatoes work as well)
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced black olives
• 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped or thinly sliced basil
• 2 tsp. finely chopped fresh oregano (or 1/2 tsp. dried)
• 1 small clove garlic, thinly sliced or pressed (see notes)
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tsp. fresh-squeezed lemon juice
• 3 oz. crumbled Feta Cheese (or more)
• salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
• 8 oz. pasta (or 8.8 oz. if you're German like me... 250g is what I use)
• generous amount salt, for pasta water
How it's done:
• Chop and slice the vegetables and herbs.
• Put tomatoes, scallions, olives, garlic and herbs into a bowl large enough to also hold the pasta. Mix well.
• Add lemon juice and olive oil, mix again.
• Let it marinate at room temperature for at least an hour.
A note on garlic: Garlic is totally optional in this, but I think it rounds up the Greek flavor nicely. If you don't like raw garlic, you can sautee it in a skillet for a minute or so in a teensy bit of oil. And if you don't own a garlic press (like me, I got fed up with cleaning the darn thing), here's a neat way to prepare the garlic: chop it up, then add a bit of salt and mash it up to a paste on the chopping board with a fork.
• When the veggies have marinated to your taste, put a medium-sized pot with water on the stove and bring it to a boil. Don't add salt just yet! (Already salted water takes longer to boil.)
• Meanwhile, add the crumbled Feta to your sauce.
• When water boils, add salt. (More than you think you need, pasta water needs a lot of salt.)
• Add pasta, cook per instructions on the package.
• When pasta is done, drain it and let it cool for a minute or so.
• Mix pasta under the sauce, add salt and pepper to taste. Serve and enjoy!
What I really love about this recipe:
Add 1/4 cup of sliced cucumbers and bell peppers each to your 'sauce' and let the pasta cool down completely before you add it and you have a pretty good Greek pasta salad. ;-) I often use only half the pasta and sauce for a 'warm meal' and prepare the rest with additional veggies as salad for later.
Bon Appetit!
no subject
on 2010-10-09 04:46 pm (UTC)We had a delicious sauce, a cooked one, once made only with tomatoes, onions and a bit of salt---I tasted it and the absolute sweet freshness astonished me.
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on 2010-10-09 05:22 pm (UTC)If you have really good tomatoes (homegrown are the best, sadly I lack the garden for that), you don't need much to make a really yummy sauce. They're so full of flavor!
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on 2010-10-09 05:12 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2010-10-09 05:26 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2010-10-09 05:30 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2010-10-09 05:45 pm (UTC)A cup measure is roughly 250ml or 250g, so 1/4 cup would come around 65g.
Olives... I usually buy them in a glass, which contains 135g net weight. So, about half the glass.
Scallions... one pack of stalks as it's sold at the grocery.
Herbs... 5 to 6 basil leaves. Parsley twice as many. I mostly use the dried oregano because I lack windowsill space in my apartment to grow all the herbs I'd want to.
In any case, as long as it's not baking, don't take recipes too literal. None of my meals ever taste exactly the same. *g*
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on 2010-10-09 06:03 pm (UTC)This not only solves this recipe for me, but helps decipher some of the other recipes (why must the entire internet be in Imperial units?). It is highly appreciated! Now to use a knife without needing the Notarzt... :P
no subject
on 2010-10-09 06:14 pm (UTC)I was constantly confused by the cup measure for years. It is evil. *nods*
Can't help with knife-wielding, though. I can chop fine, I only injure myself during the washing up afterwards. ;-)
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on 2010-10-13 01:49 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2010-10-13 01:54 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2010-10-13 03:03 pm (UTC)Sauce mariniert jetzt und in ein paar Stunden werd ich Penne in der Mikrowelle kochen!
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on 2010-10-09 07:10 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2010-10-09 07:13 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2010-10-09 07:19 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2010-10-09 07:48 pm (UTC)On the other hand, I cannot possibly walk into a grocery store and buy 1 cup of, say, celery. ;-)
Conversion is a bit iffy, I know that. But even tea and table spoons aren't universally equal all over the world, right?
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on 2010-10-09 08:35 pm (UTC)And no, you can't, buuuut I can't buy X amt of grams of it, either. Most veggies don't come like that, they come either in a prepackaged amount, or in some bundled group. So it's not like it matters in the end, just gotta buy it and cut it up and then use the proper amount! =P
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on 2010-10-10 10:26 am (UTC)only herbs are exempted as they come in a pot.
i've lived all over the northern countries and this is how we do it... i'm surprised to hear they don't do it this way everywhere else. it's so easy and simple. (also i'd rather pay for my veggies according to weight than per piece.)
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on 2010-10-10 10:54 am (UTC)My point was, utilizing the example provided above, I couldn't walk into the store and buy 150g of celery, either, because it comes only in specific quantities, ie a full...uh, what's a thing of celery called? >_> lol, well, the full thing that you have to break the individual stalks off of, or in a special soup bag with some celery, some carrot, some leek, etc.
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on 2010-10-10 11:01 am (UTC)no subject
on 2010-10-10 11:33 am (UTC)no subject
on 2010-10-10 11:35 am (UTC)no subject
on 2010-10-10 11:44 am (UTC)no subject
on 2010-10-10 04:05 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2010-10-10 11:41 am (UTC)no subject
on 2010-10-10 11:56 am (UTC)no subject
on 2010-10-10 12:09 pm (UTC)I have one of those small fridges and the freezer section is fairly small. Just enough for one person, unless it's summer and I need to stack ice cream. ;-)
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on 2010-10-10 12:32 pm (UTC)I won't buy things with frozen potatoes, or mushrooms. But like I said somewhere ^ up there, lol, we keep a supply of frozen peas, "green vegetables" (aka pea pods, peas, broccoli, and a small amt of red onion), green beans, all colored bell peppers/paprikas, and [bio] broccoli. They're cheaper, and we don't have to worry about finishing them on time, and frozen are just as good as fresh! I don't recall if I've seen any leek or celery in stuff (I am near positive they don't sell them singly though), but you're right, I do think I have at least seen carrots in some mixes. ^^
no subject
on 2010-10-10 01:24 pm (UTC)Mirepoix, or Suppengemüse as we call it here is an absolute staple in the freezer section. It's even available prepared with herbs and spices. Most people buy this rather than buying it fresh, as it saves time and is convenient. I love the chopping (it's rather therapeutic) and my family never did it any other way.
I'm a bit restricted space-wise, so I buy most of my veggies fresh. Frozen leek is available here and it's okay for leek and potato soup, but I still think it's better fresh. *g* Frozen is cheaper most of the time and the shock freezing preserves the vitamins better so it's sometimes better quality than when you buy it fresh. And it's convenient. But I have the whole world of good, fresh produce available and I love to support the neighborhood.
Frozen mushrooms? Ick! *g*
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on 2010-10-10 03:12 pm (UTC)Actually because we bought the freezer, we definitely have more space for the frozen than storing fresh in the fridge. Because in the fridge we generally have a few packages of Quorn, a package/box of mushrooms, whatever opened things haven't been finished (like cans of beans and such), and a couple containers of leftovers, maybe some other item or two for lunch stuff. And usually I have some chocolate pudding (at least, what we call pudding in the US!) in there. If we've recently had Mexican, there's also lettuce and the open rice pkg, and we get one of the fresh veg mixes they sell, too, to make it, so there's also that. And the drawer is strictly for cheese, lol. We're cheese freaks. Or well, I am, and I've kind of made him into one. ;P So it's usually... not exactly full but, not very roomy. We use the bottom, large, drawer of the freezer for all the veggies. ^^ And buying from the [large chain] grocery store is def not supporting the locals, so fresh vs frozen totally doesn't matter in that regard. Otherwise, yeah, I can see that being a good reason to do so.
Ooh, I've never heard of that, nice. Yeah that's a big combo of specific types of cooking, but actually not so big in our house. For soups, definitely, and certain stuff...but we just don't tend to do that much. Our specific staple, like I said earlier, is onions, garlic, mushrooms. LoL. Yeah, we're kinda odd, but it works for us! ;P
no subject
on 2010-10-10 11:36 am (UTC)Yes, leek comes bundled here as well, especially when it's in season, but you can always buy a single stalk, too. At bigger grocery stores and supermarkets, a lot of the veggies or fruits are available pre-bundled or pre-packaged. 4 or 6 apples, a pound of tomatoes or grapes and yeah, the 2kg bags of potatoes and 1kg of onions. But for most of that, there's also the option of weighing it yourself, thank god for us single person households. The smaller stores might not have that though. The only thing that always comes in bundles is scallions and radishes.
I have the big advantage of having access to two biweekly farmer's markets in my direct neighborhood, plus countless Turkish or Arabian grocery stores in our street. I can buy all my veggies and fruits there in the amount I need. I never buy potatoes or onions at the store either, because it would take me eons to use up 2kg. At the farmer's market, I can get the four or five I need. I love that! And it cheaper than letting the surplus go to waste, even if the initial price is a bit higher.
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on 2010-10-10 11:52 am (UTC)We get those in large size without a problem, 'cause we use them daily. We always have onions, garlic, and mushrooms in our dinner (and we cook every night, only eat out once every couple mos), no matter what we are having, lol, so we go through onions easy enough, and we eat potatoes as a side every night also. So we go through the 2kg bag in just a nick of time. They do start making little sprouts by the last days, but I just cut off those areas and it's fine. ^^
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on 2010-10-10 11:19 am (UTC)AFAIK, a US tablespoon is supposed to be 1/2 fl. oz. or 15ml. Three teaspoon in one tablespoon. In Australia instead, four teaspoon go in one tablespoon and it's supposed to be 2/3 fl. oz. or about 20ml.
So yes, it is a specific unit, just not identical in every country. And quite frankly, most people I know don't even have a spoon measure even though they're available here as well. We mostly use the spoons we have in our tableware drawer. ;-)
no subject
on 2010-10-10 11:37 am (UTC)What about baking though? When you bake, things have to be precise or it won't work out. With cooking, I'm with you, I either tend not to measure at all, or do a few heaping tablespoons, or whatever. But when you bake, the amounts of flour, baking soda, etc, the things that make it stable, have to be measured precisely (the stuff you throw in for flavor - sugar, chocolate, etc, those things can be varied according to taste) or it simply won't work. What do people do then?
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on 2010-10-10 11:52 am (UTC)A friend of mine usually experiments with converted amounts until she gets it right per her family's taste. You have a little leeway with the amounts even in baking, so I guess it works.
And now I miss having an oven to bake. Darn you, single apartment with only a hot plate!
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on 2010-10-10 11:59 am (UTC)no subject
on 2010-10-10 01:29 pm (UTC)It's been five years this past weekend now since I moved here and another move is not on the horizon for a while. I should probably just go and buy the darn thing. ;-)
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on 2010-10-10 03:20 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2010-10-13 12:46 am (UTC)