When the weather is hot, the cooking can be too!
We all know the summer is full of hot sizzling days and too often, we find ourselves not wanting to cook. These are the days we just want something fast, refreshing, and cool to serve our family. It is the sizzling days of summer that stops us from making the full hearty meals such as a roasted turkey. We would much rather be spending our hot days at the beach, lake, or swimming pool. The following helpful ideas are all geared for helping you create tasty meals with less work, leaving time for more play. These will help in reducing the amount of time over the oven and help your air conditioner but not placing much, if any additional heat into the home.
A cooling alternative, Pasta
When the heat has not taken over just yet and you can stand a little bit of heat from the stove, consider cooking some pasta and tossing it with something appealing, fresh, and requires no additional cooking. For example, tortellini or ravioli, with either sausage or cheese, combined with julienne carrots, corn, and slightly cooked peas. The peas can be cooked in the microwave, while you are cooking the pasta. Then toss with a mixture of mozzarella, olive oil, basil, salt, and pepper. If the mixture is not for you, you can use your own favorite bottle of Italian dressing mixed with oregano. You could even opt to use bell peppers of the red, green, and yellow variety with capers as substitute for the peas, carrots, and corn. If you do not want a filling with your pasta, consider pastas such as fusilli or rotelle. With these types of salads, you can add almost anything you have available in the cupboards or refrigerator.
If the heat is not too bad, consider a warm pasta dish such as the one following. This is derived from the book titled ‘Italian Two Easy: Simple Recipes from the London River Café’, written by Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray.
Orecchiette Pasta Dish
Twelve oz. Cherry Tomatoes
One Clove of Garlic
Two oz Parmesan cheese
Three Tbsp Basil
One Tbsp Olive Oil (Extra Virgin)
One Scant Cup Ricotta cheese
11 oz orecchiette (’Little Ears’ pasta)
Pepper and Salt (to taste)
Half tomatoes, squeezing juice and seeds out. Take the garlic, first peel, then finely chop. Grate parmesan cheese. Wash basil leaves. Then combine garlic and tomatoes, using salt, pepper, and olive oil to season, toss the combination. Marinate for fifteen minutes.In a bowl, place the ricotta, season while stirring. Cook orecchiette in salted, boiling water, and then drain. Place the tomato mixture in a gentle heat; add orecchiette that has been drained, all the while stirring the combination gently to mix well. Lastly, stir basil and ricotta into the mixture. Serve immediately with parmesan cheese.
Orecchiette Pasta, Italian Food, Italian recipe
Technorati Tags: Orecchiette Pasta, Italian Food, Italian recipe
