Creamy Roasted Tomato Pasta

This has been a fabulous year for tomatoes!

Seriously, look at how beautiful these are.

Gorgeous.

They just cry out to be something equally beautiful and delicious.

So that is exactly what I made them.

Creamy Roasted Tomato Pasta
Recipe ideas from Food and Wine

Ingredients:
1 package of Bucatini (or any type you'd like.)
Heirloom Tomatoes, enough to fill a baking sheet when cut in half
Garlic cloves
Thyme enough to sprinkled over tomatoes
Basil enough to sprinkle over tomatoes
1 cup milk or cream (or vegan substitute)
2 tablespoons flour
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, toss the tomatoes with the olive oil, garlic cloves, basil, thyme, and season with salt and pepper. Roast the tomatoes for about an hour, until starting to brown and their skins split.
3. After tomatoes are done, place them in a food processor and pulse a few times.
4. Pour pureed tomatoes into a large sauce pan on medium heat.
5. Add the cream and tbls of flour to the tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Cook over moderate heat, gently crushing the tomatoes, until the cream thickens slightly, about 3 minutes.
6. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the bucatini until al dente; drain.
7. Add the bucatini to the sauce and toss over low heat until the pasta is coated, about 1 minute.  

Then dig in and enjoy!

Kale Pasta Yumminess

Food...my favorite part of the summer...

fresh and local flavors = Yumma! (As my momma would say...) 

Each Sunday, I head down to the Farmer's Market in Milwaukie and collect my CSA box. 

It's like receiving a delicious present every week! 

Milwaukee Farmers Market May 13-Oct. 28 (9:30a-2p)
Main St & Harrison St

This is the basis for each weeks' menu...tasty huh?

If only they wrapped it up in a big bright bow for me~ :0)
I guess the cherries on top will have to do!

http://profarmproduce.com/index.html

Sorry Murph...you'll have to stay in the car for this one.

Poor baby....yes, he sits like this until I return. :0)

So many ideas, as I looked at the list of produce for the week.  Walking around the market, I stopped at another booth, pork from Sweet Briar Farms.

http://www.sweet-briar-farms.com/

The lady there gave me a wonderful, simple meal, that included many of my ingredients from the CSA box and bulk pork from her farm.

Ingredients for a tasty, fresh meal....

Pasta noodles (whatever type you would like)

1 bunch Kale- chopped into bite size pieces

1 onion chopped

3 cloves garlic finely chopped

1 pound bulk sweet pork from Sweet Briar Farm

Olive Oil

Directions:
1.  Cook noodles to al dente.  I used regular spaghetti noodles.
2.  While the noodle are cooking, heat a large skillet pan and add a drizzle of olive oil.
3.  When the skillet is hot, add the pork and saute, breaking down the pork into small pieces.
4. Once the pork is cooked, add onion and garlic into the pan.  Then cover and reduce the heat.
5.  Let the onion and garlic cook into the pork. The condensation from the hot pan will help in the cooking, so don't worry that there is a lot of moisture.
6. The noodles are probably done now, so drain and rinse to stop the cooking.  Lightly drizzle the noodles with olive oil to avoid the noodles sticking together.
7. Uncover the pork and let it cook for a couple minutes to reduce the moisture in the pan.
8. Add the fresh chopped kale on top of the pork, onion, and garlic mixture.  Let it cook, just a minute or two...you don't want soggy kale!
9. As the kale begins to cook, slowly toss the mixture in the skillet.  I use a pair of tongs, which makes it really easy.
10.  Add your noodles into the skillet and give it another good toss.
11. Tada! Fresh and fabulous meal!
12. Serve it up and enjoy :0)

How can something be so simple and tasty?  It's fantastic!

 I suggest having people over when making this meal because it is yummy! 

It was difficult to put my fork down long enough to take the picture. 

Good thing I have a pup who is willing to try new things...

 and waits patiently for me while I pick out deliciousness...

Ahhh...I love this face!