chompsky

So, remember how I said that I’d post what we did with our roasted tomatoes on Saturday? Well, that was before this happened:

Nick broke his fourth metacarpal (read: hand) on Saturday, and we spent the rest of the evening (and almost all of the night) in the emergency room. Fittingly enough, it was his own politeness what did him in. I remember after the very first time I met him, I told my mother what a polite boy he was. Well, I guess all that niceness was bound to catch up with him someday. He went to hold a door for a young lady and wound up instead with a heavy metal door slammed on his left hand. Now his whole arm up to his elbow is in a cast, which translates for me as my #1 dishwasher is out of commission. (By the way, don’t let anyone tell you that Canadian hospital care is bad. Yes, we had to wait, but a hurt little finger tends to get put at the back of the line in any urban emergency ward. But every single employee was nothing if not gracious and jovial. I think that’s the first time I’ve ever been able to say that about a hospital.)

So that’s my excuse for not posting this over the weekend. It’s definitely not because it was not delicious. With all those roasted tomatoes, one can only eat so many unadorned, so we thought we’d make pesto and throw them in. It was marvelous, to say the least. Inspired by an old Orangette post, we added string beans to the rustic pasta we bought at the corner store to give the dish a bit of crunch. The pesto recipe, well, I just kind of winged it, but it is definitely worth repeating.

Some may know that one of my greatest pleasures in life is to cook dinner while drinking a glass of  white wine. This recipe is perfect for that kind of cooking, with no real chopping involved. In fact, it’s quite pleasurable to sip out of one hand while daintily pulsing the “grind” button on the food processor. Not that I pack recipes for their amenability to drinking while cooking or anything, but it’s a definite plus.

roasted tomato pesto

The lemon zest really brightens the flavor of the basil and makes the whole thing taste even fresher than regular pesto. Be careful not to overdo it, though, or the lemon will overpower the other flavors.

1/2 cup (or more, if you have them) slow-roasted tomatoes
3 Tbsp pine nuts
3 cloves roasted garlic (roasted with tomatoes), peels removed (Two of my cloves were tiny, so I added in one raw clove)
2 1/2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup pecorino romano cheese
salt, to taste

Combine tomatoes, pine nuts, and garlic in food processor, pulse until they form a paste. Add basil, zest, red pepper flakes, olive oil, and cheese. Process until smooth. Salt to your liking.

Spoon a few tablespoons into a bowl of drained pasta, saving 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking liquid. Add liquid a bit at a time and stir until a thin sauce covers the pasta.