roasted tomato puttanesca

This first week of fall has been gloriously fall like. The mornings are cool, warranting a sweatshirt and slippers and the days have been a bit gloomy, even giving way to some refreshing rain. The mantle has been aglow with candles and the slow cooker has endured a few good workouts, turning out some of the most comfy food I can think of. It was just what the doctor ordered for this slightly stressed mama. Nothing beats sweats and comfort food when you're not at your best, amiright? 

As I believe I've mentioned, we are wading through some heavy decisions in our house. Dinner time has been such a haven for us as we take the time to sit down together, eat something good and talk it all out. Tonight, our conversation was particularly heavy and as my husband and I were going back and forth, Oliver, covered from head to toe in tomato sauce, was making sure we clapped every time he used his fork to spear his pasta and successfully made it into his mouth. He is such a reminder to me that while this time made be difficult, there is so much joy in it. The hard times can sometimes feel so hard and I often feel like I can be so short sighted without the ability to see the big picture. This little boy is so helpful for putting things into perspective. 

Early in the week I found myself up to my ears in cherry tomatoes and since I was already on a comfort food kick, I decided that roasting them is the coziest way I know to treat a tomato. I used a few in a warm lentil salad I made from Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty and the rest were packed away in the fridge awaiting inspiration. This afternoon, once the babe was sound asleep, I spent some time cooking up a deeply rich puttanesca that ended up being an incredibly satisfying way to end the week. The sauce is quite thick and coats the pasta perfectly, hanging on tightly even when a toddler is attempting to shovel it in his mouth. 

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roasted tomato puttanesca 

makes 6 cups, enough for 2 pounds of pasta

Ingredients: 

• 4 pounds cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
• 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt, divided
• 4 large cloves garlic, sliced
• 1/2 large yellow onion, diced
• 1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
• 2 tablespoons capers
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tablespoon dill, chopped 

Preparation: 

1. Heat the oven to 265 degrees. Cover two sheet pans in foil, set aside. 
2. Toss cut tomatoes in 2 tablespoons olive oil, fresh thyme and 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt. Roast in the oven until starting to dry out, about an hour and a half. Transfer to a bowl. 
3. Heat remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat until glistening. Add garlic, onion, oregano and capers and cook until lightly browned, about 5-6 minutes. Add roasted tomatoes and water and bring to a simmer. Cook, uncovered for 30 minutes until reduced and thickened slightly. Puree the tomato sauce with a stick blender or in a counter top blender until smooth. Stir in the dill. 

tofu summer rolls

Summer is great isn't it? I mean, all that sun, late dinners on the porch, tomatoes. Sure, you're constantly dripping sweat, you can't find anything to wear because all you own are cardigans and black jeans and you keep buying butternut squash even though you know it just doesn't feel right. You are pinning cool ways to decorate your mantle with branches and pine cones and you know exactly how many days there are until Christmas Eve. Oh, by you, I definitely mean me. Don't get me wrong, there are certainly some endearing qualities of the season like al fresco dinners, pool parties and popsicles. I just think summer and I would probably get along a lot better if it wasn't so darn hot all the time and the sun decided to hide itself every once in a while. Just a little break, tiny really. After all, California has had so much sun this year (and so little rain) that the lakes and reservoirs are just about dried up. I'm hoping and praying for a long and wet winter. Wouldn't that just be absolutely glorious? We'll make soup and crusty bread and we'll sit by the fire, sipping tea in our oversized sweaters. Guys, it's gonna be amazing. 

There are still 19 days left of summer, so in the meantime, I promise I'll refrain from complaining about the fact that it's STILL summer and move that we pull it together and really take advantage and live it up. Let's boycott the oven, get outside and eat as many tomatoes as we can fit in our mouths. I'll stop pinning pumpkin recipes and hearty soups and really try to enjoy the moment and I won't even think about how many more days are left before I can legitimately start listening to Christmas music. Let's hit the pool, eat dinner outside until the sun is gone and make popsicles. Alright, that's the pep talk I needed. Thanks guys. Let's do this. 

As our first act of living it up, let's make summer rolls. I mean, it's in the name. So perfect, right? Summer rolls are a great dish for using up leftovers from the week. We nearly always have baked tofu around to use as a quick toddler snack or to bulk up salads and scrambles. It works perfectly here and since it was already in the fridge, it was super simple to throw these together. If you don't want to use the baked tofu option for these (which would require some oven action, but totally worth it), you can substitute about 3 cups of shredded rotisserie chicken or quickly grilled shrimp would be pretty great as well. I'd plan for two shrimp per roll if you go that route. 

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tofu summer rolls

makes 8 

Ingredients: 

• 10 rice paper wrappers (it's a good idea to soak a couple extra since it's easy to tear them)
• 4 green onion, white and light green parts only, split lengthwise, then sliced lengthwise again
• 3 oz cellophane noodles
• 1 cup pickled vegetables (alternatively, you can use regular carrot and daikon, julienned) 
• 16 sprigs cilantro
• 16 large basil leaves
• 2 cups mixed greens

• 24 baked tofu sticks, or 3 cups shredded rotisserie chicken

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce

• 2 tablespoons fish sauce

• 2 tablespoons honey

• juice of one lime

• 1 teaspoon garlic chili paste

Preparation:

1. Cover the cellophane noodles with hot water and let them sit for 10 minutes. Drain them in a colander and rinse with cold water. Set aside. 
2. Combine the soy sauce, fish sauce, honey, lime juice and garlic chili paste in a small bowl. Set aside.
3. On a large plate or a baking dish, soak the rice paper wrappers in warm water until soft and pliable, just a few minutes. 
4. Carefully separate a rice paper wrapper and place it on a plate. In the middle of the wrapper, add three sticks of tofu, a small handful of pickled vegetables, a small handful of cellophane noodles, two sprigs of cilantro, two basil leaves and a small handful of mixed greens. Roll one side of the wrapper toward the middle, tuck the top and bottom over the top and continue rolling until you meet the other side. Slice in half, dip it in the sauce and enjoy. 

sweet potato, kale and gruyere mini frittatas

For the past year and a half I've been at home with our son, mostly just making sure that he stays alive. Before we were even pregnant, I knew I wanted to be at home with him if it was even remotely possible. My mom was home, running a day care when we were growing up and my husbands mom was a stay at home mom. Neither of us had the experience of a working mom, so naturally we leaned that way. I have found the time to be incredibly challenging and also an experience I am incredibly grateful for. There are days when I feel like I'm just on repeat trying to keep him from swallowing literally everything and it's all I can do to console him with each toddler disappointment ("why did you give me exactly what I asked for?! WHAAAAAH!"). Most days though, I'm amazed by every single thing he does. How is it possible that just a little over a year ago, all he could do was eat, poop and sleep? Now he goes to the fridge and asks for cheese and then takes me by the hand to our room where he asks for the guitar from under the bed so he can dance while I play the only four chords I know that go together. It's all so surreal. 

It feels like we have walked through a thousand transitions in the last year. Many were rough and some I dreaded. When Oliver was still on a bottle, it was so easy to just pop some pre-made formula in our bag and head out the door. He had a meal (a no-brainer meal) at any given moment. I was so used to the convenience. At a year, when we were moving to a completely solid food diet, I had a lot of anxiety of how it would all work. What do I feed him? How do I know he is getting what he needs? What if he hates everything? I just couldn't anticipate enough about the situation to feel confident in the next phase. Each day was a little easier and I was able to be more creative as we went along. Now, if I can stay on top of things, we have a great range of food we all like. One of the great things about making most of his food is that I can make things I like too. That way when we're out, we both have a quick, healthful snack. 

Each week, I try to make a high protein, vegetable packed and portable snack. Some weeks it's mini muffins or quinoa patties and others it's some variation of a mini frittata. Usually, I peek in the fridge and take inventory of the vegetables I haven't used and those become the foundation for whatever snack I'm going to make. He's not really into anything green yet, so this is a good way to get some greens into his cute little body. The recipe below is for my absolute favorite frittata combo. It would be perfect as a regular sized frittata too, served to friends on a Saturday with crusty, buttered bread and a strong cup of coffee. 

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sweet potato, kale + gruyere mini frittatas

makes 24

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cups kale, chopped small
• 1 clove garlic, minced or grated with a microplane
• pinch of kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
• 1 small sweet potato, diced small (about 1 cup)
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper
• 6 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons whole milk
• 1 cup grated gruyere (on the mid sized holes of a box grater), about 3 oz, divided

Preparation: 

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 and oil a 24 cup, or two 12 cup mini muffin tins and set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the kale and garlic and season with salt and pepper. Cook until just starting to wilt, about two minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl and set aside.
3. Add the sweet potato, oregano and cumin to the skillet and season with salt and pepper. If you need to, add another drizzle of oil to coat the sweet potato. Cook until just softening and starting to brown, about 5-6 minutes.  
4. Add the eggs, milk and half of the cheese to the bowl with the kale. Stir to combine. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Divide the mixture among the 24 cups, using about a tablespoon of mixture for each. Sprinkle the sweet potato over the top of each, pressing it down to submerge it. Top each cup with a sprinkle of cheese and salt and freshly ground pepper. 
5. Bake until cooked through, about 15 minutes. Let cool in the pan on a rack for about 5 minutes and then remove the frittatas from the pan and transfer to a cooling rack. These can be refrigerated for up to three days or frozen for up to one month. 

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