Pasta with Sundried Tomatoes and Mozzarella

This recipe is from Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa. So, I can't claim it. But what I can claim is that I realized it would be a perfect Farmer's Market Diet recipe. And that it would be a perfect dish for my dear friend, and blog co-author's bridal shower. Almost everything in this recipe is directly from the market (with the exception of the olive oil, red wine vinegar, and pasta).

Dressing:
5 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained
2 tbls red wine vinegar
6 tbls olive oil
1 clove of garlic, diced
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Blend all above ingredients in a food processor until well-blended like a vinaigrette, set aside.

chop 3-4 ripe tomatoes
dice 3/4 cup good black olives, 6 sun-dried tomatoes in oil (drained), and 1 lb fresh mozzarella
Wash and julienne 1 cup of basil leaves

Set aside chopped and diced ingredients.

Boil 1/2 lb of fusilli pasta
Drain.

Toss pasta with chopped an diced ingredients and dressing.

Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
Eat. Don't eat too much, remember you're trying to lose weight.
Yum.

Adventure Girl/ Salty Chard

Now days, my idea of adventure is going to the farmer's market and buying produce that I have never bought before (I know, I'm a wild and crazy daredevil). So, on my last visit to the market, I decided to be brave and buy two things that I had never purchased- Swiss chard and long beans.

Cooking swiss chard is daring for me, in part because I knew that it would be a tough sell for my husband. He is the type of guy who "likes" vegetables. And by "likes", I mean he only enjoys vegetables when they are cooked in bacon fat until there is no nutritional value left in them. So one of my goals in life is to make my vegetables so delicious (without bacon fat and with nutrients still left in them) that even he will eat them.
So, I set out to cook yummy Swiss chard...

I washed it really well and chopped it- stems and all.

Then I put about one tbls of olive oil in my trusty cast iron skillet and took 1 garlic clove and pressed it down a little (to help the essential oils come out).
Then I sauteed the garlic in the oil for about 2-3 minutes.
(I watch it very carefully so that it doesn't burn)

Then I put the Swiss chard in the skillet. I added some salt (this is where it all started to go wrong) and let it cook for about 20-25 minutes until it was tender.

When it was done, I tasted it and discovered that it was way too salty :(

It would have been very tasty otherwise.

I choked it down, but my husband refused (mission: not accomplished)

Lesson Learned: Don't salt your chard before it's cooked, because once it's cooked down you can taste it and salt it to taste.

Oh well. On to the next adventure...

Green Curry or bust!

This week I decided i would try and be a bit adventurous and bought Thai green eggplants ( I admit it i bought them because i thought they were super cute - you know, the cuteness factor, always the best way to choose your food).

I have made thai curries plenty of times and thought these eggplants would be a fun addition, plus i thought I could be a little experimental and try out some new cooking techniques that would be a bit less fatty. Okay, I also admit, i didn't want to fall flat on my face with something super difficult for the first food entry on here. I read a couple of recipes and then decided to wing it (usually the way I cook). Most recipes said to quarter these bad boys before they went in, and so that is what I did. I also used onion, red pepper, an italian sweet pepper (also something new found at the market) tofu, and a mixture of other tiny eggplants. There was not a particular rhyme or reason to these ingredients other than i thought they were a good color mix and what happened to be in my fridge. Okay bear with me, I'm not the most exact measurer of things when I cook. This does sometimes bug my friends when they ask for my recipes and i act like a grandma and say i used almost a handful or two of this or that. Hopefully as the blog goes on i'll get a bit better at it.

I stir fried the vegetables with a small amount of oil and half a package of green curry paste, and then to try something new I added some boiling stock instead of more oil, when i thought it was going to stick to the pan. Yes that's right, I learned this trick from watching the chef at panda express. You never know where you might pick p something helpful!

I finished up by adding a can of coconut milk when the veggis were cooked through. I served the curry on top of some steamed rice. WhalaaH, a beautiful dinner.

Or so I thought. The curry was actually quite good, and i think the boiling stock worked really well, the eggplant cooked through way faster than normal ( a Rachel Ray style 30 minute meal) and I was able to use a significantly smaller portion of oil. But boy those little Thai eggplants were super seedy! I wish i had at least cut them in to eighths instead of quarters because they were big and the texture was a bit hard to get used to. They absorbed flavor better than the japanese eggplants I'm familiar with, but it might take me another dish to get used to all those seeds.