Whole Wheat Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomato and Walnut Pesto

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Summer in the Pacific Northwest is a particularly lovely season. The rains stop and temperatures moderate, rarely reaching the highs experienced in other areas of the country. Fair winds bring blue skies and balmy breezes blow inland from the sea. Ease and comfort reign under a just right sun. The frenetic must do, must go pace of winter eases to the rhythm of a summer waltz. We move outdoors. There are trails and tides to be seen and alfresco meals in need of testing. While not abandoned, the stove is definitely neglected as meals are simplified and the deck and grill become the summer kitchen. For better or worse, what we eat and where we eat it change for the season. I still experiment, but fast and light assume an importance that is not seen in my winter kitchen. This pasta dish is fairly typical of the meals I make at this time of year. While it is simple to make, it bursts with flavor that's not been sacrificed for the sake of ease. The ingredients, save for basil, can always be found in the pantry, and, fortunately, for the next few months, there'll be basil aplenty in the garden. You can have this on the table in 30 minutes. I think those of you who try this will really be pleased. It is strongly flavored but not overwhelming. Here's the recipe.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Walnut and Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite inspired by a recipe originally appearing in Taste of Home Magazine

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes (not packed in oil)
1/2 cup boiling water
12 ounces uncooked whole wheat spaghetti
2 cups loosely packed basil leaves
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 garlic clove, peeled
1/3 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
Optional garnish: Finely chopped walnuts and sun-dried tomatoes

Directions:
1) Place tomatoes in a small bowl and cover with boiling water.Let stand for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, cook spaghetti according to package directions.
2) Place basil, Parmesan cheese and garlic in a food processor; cover and pulse until chopped. Add tomatoes with soaking liquid, broth, walnuts, salt and pepper; cover and process until blended. While processing, gradually add oil in a steady stream.
3) Drain spaghetti; toss with pesto. Serve immediately. Yield: 6 servings.









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Spicy Basil Walnut Pesto - Kitchen Confidante
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Spinach and Almond Pesto - Gastronomical Sovereignty
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Pesto, Pesto Pesto! - A Girl in Her Kitchen

Sun-Dried Tomato Soup

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This is the sun-dried tomato soup that Bob made last Sunday. He found the recipe in an old issue of Food and Wine magazine and had clipped it, hoping I'd give it a try. That hadn't happened and it had been languishing a good long while. He remembered the recipe when we were planning a light supper for our rainy day interlude. We quickly agreed on toasted cheese and bacon sandwiches made with chunky slabs of peasant bread and some English cheddar and Irish bacon we had received for the holiday. We both thought the deeply colored soup would be a perfect accompaniment. Many of you know that the Silver Fox was trained as a cook by the army. The story of that misadventure can be found here. While he rarely cooks anything other than holiday breakfasts, he is quite skilled in the kitchen when he wants to be. As you might suspect, I revel in the moments he wants to be. I quickly surrendered half the kitchen and let him have a go at it. This is a pantry soup, so, we had everything he needed to make it on hand. The soup is lovely, but there are a few things you should be aware of if you decide to make it. This bears no resemblance to your mother's tomato soup. As a matter of fact, the soup has the color you associate with a bowl of chili and the predominant flavor is the very distinctive taste of oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes. Palates that like bold flavors will love this soup. Others, probably not so much. The task of making it can be made easier if you use a food processor to chop the tomatoes. If you don't have one at your disposal, snip the tomatoes with kitchen shears as they can be hard to cut with a knife. Bob added a whole can of diced tomatoes and their juices to the recipe and also used a small quantity of concentrated sun-dried tomato paste to intensify the flavor of the soup as it neared the end of cooking. You can have the soup ready for the pot in 20 minutes and on the table in much less than an hour. This will probably never replace your recipe for tomato soup, but it is a wonderful change of pace for those who like strong flavors. We will be making it again. Here's the recipe.

Sun-Dried Tomato Soup...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Grace Parisi and Food and Wine Magazine

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, sliced
1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and coarsely chopped
1 (14.5-oz.) can diced tomatoes, drained but juices reserved
1 (14.5-oz.) can chicken broth
2 thyme sprigs
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon concentrated sun-dried tomato paste or canned tomato paste
1/4 cup heavy cream

Directions:
1) In a large saucepan, melt butter in the olive oil. Add onion and garlic and cook over moderately high heat, stirring until softened, about 4 minutes. Add sun-dried tomatoes and canned tomatoes. Combine reserved tomato juice and chicken broth in a 3 to 4 cup measure. Add water to make three cups liquid. Add liquid to pot with thyme. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer over low heat until vegetables are very soft, about 20 minutes. Discard thyme sprigs. Stir in tomato paste.
2) Transfer small batches of soup to a blender and puree. Return to pot and warm over low heat. Stir in creme fraiche or cream and heat through. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Yield: 4 servings.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Hearty Tomato Soup - Pennies on a Platter
Tuscan Tomato-Basil Soup - Teenie Cakes
Roasted Tomato Soup - Jenn Cuisine
Creamy Tomato Soup and Foccacia - Inquiring Chef
Tomato Basil Soup - Katy's Kitchen
Tomato Soup with Chickpeas and Spinach - Seriously Soupy
Creamy Tomato Soup with Basil - Verses from my Kitchen

Red Pesto Sauce + Home-Style Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Red Pesto Sauce



Home-Style Sun-Dried Tomatoes

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Red Pesto Sauce is a multi-purpose condiment that I try to keep in the refrigerator at all times. I use it for bruschetta, pasta and rice. It is a pungent sauce bursting with the flavors of sun-dried tomatoes, fresh herbs, fragrant oil and wonderful salt-cured olives. Its robust flavor is unmistakably Italian and its complex simplicity is a delight to the palate. This sauce is an attention getter and not for the faint of heart. While I make this with a home-style version of sun-dried tomatoes, commercial versions can be used with only a slight loss of flavor. The technique for sun drying tomatoes was developed in Italy as a means of storing tomatoes for the winter. Fresh tomatoes were placed on tile roofs and dried by the blazing sun. I'm including the oven drying technique I use to make the sun-dried tomatoes for those who are curious or are as crazy as me. The pesto will keep for up to a month if refrigerated and filmed with a layer of olive oil. Here are the recipes for Red Pesto Sauce and Home-Style Sun-Dried Tomatoes.

Red Pesto Sauce...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite inspired by Patricia Wells

Ingredients:
1 packed cup fresh sun-dried tomatoes or 1 (3.5-oz.) package sun-dried tomato halves
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2/3 cup salt cured black olives
1 tablespoon fresh minced thyme leaves
2 tablespoons fresh minced rosemary leaves

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in bowl of a food processor. Process until just emulsified, but still coarse and slightly chunky. Store, filmed with olive oil, in refrigerator for up to 1 month. Yield: 1 cup.

Home-Style Oven-Dried Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Ingredients:
5 pounds Roma tomatoes
Kosher salt

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.
2) Trim and discard stem ends of tomatoes. Halve each tomato lengthwise. Arrange tomatoes, cut side up, side by side and crosswise on cake racks set on oven racks. Tomatoes should not touch each other. Sprinkle lightly with salt.
3) Bake until tomatoes are shriveled and feel dry, anywhere from 6 to 12 hours. The tomatoes should remain remain flexible and not be brittle. When dried, remove cake racks from oven and allow tomatoes to cool thoroughly. Store in zip-lock bags. Yield: 2 cups.

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Thai Cucumber Relish - One Perfect Bite
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