Receta Simple Eating: Pasta with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes, Spinach, and Blue Cheese
It's been a little crazy around here lately. And there have been moments when I seriously thought life would never return to normal for us.
We had it bad enough with our basement flooding with sewer waste twice in one week. But, many of our friends got it even worse. And, although I promise to get to the food part of this post Very Soon, I do need to ask you for just a moment of your time -- during which I'd like for you to consider helping out a couple of friends of ours.
Tim and Jess Cigelske, who were just blessed with the birth of their baby daughter, Clara, not more than twelve weeks ago, came home after the flooding on July 22nd to find their house virtually in ruins. I challenge you to read Tim's account and not feel move to action. Fortunately, if you feel inclined, there's something very easy you can do to help out. You can buy a t-shirt.
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In the meantime, you might be curious about what we've been eating for the past couple of weeks. And the truth is, it hasn't been pretty. We've subsisted on lots of pizza, take-out, and a hodge-podge of other easy to put together meals. But, there have also been a few moments of peace and quiet when we were able to throw together easy meals from the produce we picked up at the farmer's market. And this is a great example of one such meal.
Plenty of rain, along with warmer than average temperatures, means that tomatoes in Wisconsin are ripening at an astounding rate. And we've been pleased to see a bounty of cherry tomatoes -- both at the market and in our own little urban garden. These delicious little 'matoes are bright red and sugar sweet -- perfect for eating out of hand.
However, if you've hung around the Burp! blog for any length of time, you'll also know that one of our favorite ways to use cherry tomatoes is to roast them. So, you won't be surprised when I tell you that that's exactly what we decided to do here.
In addition to sweet summer tomatoes, we also found plenty of deliciously sweet local Walla Walla onions at the farmer's market. A bit of carmelization, along with a handful of spinach wilted with a splash of white wine -- and all of a sudden we saw our veggie laden pasta dish coming together quite nicely.
Of course it doesn't hurt when you have a chunk of Gorgonzola piccante in the fridge to make things feel a little bit special. Piquant and a little bit spicy -- this cheese is everything that I love about an earthy blue veined cheese. Woodsy, and moldy, and mushroomy, this aged cheese brings a little bit of sophistication to just about anything.
Despite my musings about the cheese, this isn't particularly fancy food. It's not fussy or time-consuming. Heck, you don't even really need a recipe. Just a few good quality ingredients and an eye for proportions. In our case, we used about 8 oz of whole wheat pasta, a pint of cherry tomatoes, a pound of fresh spinach, an onion, and maybe 4 oz of blue cheese.
On a busy evening, this simple dish comes together in about a half-hour. And it needs little more than a slice of crusty bread as an accompaniment. Well, maybe a glass of wine.
In any case -- it's simply delicious.
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