Chocolate-It's What's for Dinner

I like farro - who knew? In one of the recent cooking classes I took at Carol's Cafe , one of my classmates recommended this recipe. It came out pretty nice. I think it needed some more tomatoes. I did not have the suggested grape tomatoes (and you know I am totally unopposed to substituting things) so I used just regular tomatoes from the garden. I used about 3 medium size. Next time I would definitely up the tomato amount. There is a lot of detail regarding the farro in the notes for the recipe. I'm quite undecided about which type of farro I had. I do think it might have been pearlized but the whole "ready in 10 minutes pre-cooked" thing sort of threw me. Good old reliable Trader Joe's This is not a blurry photo this is actually steam coming off the farro.

We're starting to come to the last of the zucchini, which I have mixed feelings about. I really haven't done a saute with them yet this year so I thought that it would round out the season nicely. Zucchini with Sun-Dried Tomatoes (adapted from Fine Cooking ) 2-3 small zucchini salt 3 T olive oil 2 cloves garlic, minced 3 T sun-dried tomatoes, fine chop 10 basil leaves 1/4 of a preserved lemon or 3 T lemon juice and zest of whole lemon Pepper Cut the ends off the zucchini and slice the zucchini length-wise into quarters. Slice off the seeds. Salt the zucchini planks and place on paper towels.  Let sit for about 10 minutes. Dry zucchini with paper towels and cut into diamonds (cut the planks on an angle) about 1" size chunks. Amazing how much liquid comes off Heat skillet and add 2T olive oil. Saute zucchini, tossing occasionally. You want the zucchini to get nice and dark so don't toss them too much. Cook about 5 minutes or until they soften. Add ga...

No I didn't forget about you. It's just poor planning got me.  I don't know what I was thinking when I booked a trip to Aruba with two days home before leaving for a conference in Chicago! So let's talk mozzarella. When we got back from Aruba there was a few ripe tomatoes. They seemed a little early but I wasn't going to complain.  Fresh tomatoes, fresh basil, and fresh mozzarella. It doesn't get any better than that.  All I needed was the fresh mozzarella.  And I mean FRESH.  Once you realize how easy it is to make fresh mozzarella you WILL NOT buy that stuff in the stores any more at exorbitant prices like $8.99 a pound!  The curd is fairly cheap - I bought it for $4.99 a pound (Do the math - it's half the price!).  I bought 3lbs and that will give me a little less than 3lbs of cheese. You can make your own curd but the store bought stuff is pretty good. I have to ask for it at my local Italian store. They do not have it out on display anywhere....

Now that the basil is starting to take off in the garden, it's pesto time. Pesto is such a great summer dish - the only bad part is boiling the pasta. It heats the kitchen up so much. But it's well worth it. You will notice that there really is not a strict recipe here (your are very observant). It's a matter of putting the ingredients together and tasting. It's spinach tortellini-the pesto didn't make the pasta THAT green! Pesto in a Flash 1/4 c pine nuts* 2 glove garlic - rough chop about 1 c fresh basil about 1/4 c fresh parsley about 1 c Parmesan or Romano cheese grated Olive Oil Salt/Pepper Lightly toast pine nuts in a skillet. Remove from pan and let cool. Place a small amount of olive oil in pan and cook garlic until fragrant. Remove from pan and let cool.  Place basil, parsley, pine, and pine nuts in food processor. Pulse until rough chopped.  Add cheese and pulse.  Pour about 1/4-1/2 c olive oil into food processor and pulse. Taste. Add salt...