Hot bruschetta

When your meal is this simple: 

But oh so good...

My husband was watching cooking shows on PBS yesterday and I meandered into the living room just in time to catch Jacques Pepin prepare a dish my husband deemed "hot reverse bruschetta". 

It looked like comfort food and sounded extremely simple. Of course today, shopping for ingredients, Trader Joes wasn't selling shallots, so I substituted a red onion, skipped the thyme and basil and whipped this up, single serving style for lunch.  

Hot Bruschetta

Single serving

One tomato (beefsteak or medium/large vine ripened) 

1/6 of a baguette (seeded, if possible!)

1/3 of a small red onion

1 clove of garlic

Olive oil 

Salt

Pepper

Spray oil

Preheat oven 400 degrees.

Spray oil a individual cassoulet dish. 

Slice the tomato and place at the bottom of the dish.

Cut baguette into small chunks.

Slice the onions and garlic thinly.  

Mix bread, onions and garlic in a bowl with enough olive oil to coat the bread.  

Salt and pepper the tomatoes in the dish and the bread mixture.  

Place the bread mixture on the tomatoes.  

Bake for 30-40 minutes until tomatoes are soft and bread is crispy.  

Enjoy and follow with breath mints.  😁

Egg and Spinach Sandwich

English muffins are a house staple, and they are most frequently turned into breakfast sandwiches.   This morning's breakfast began like the others, English muffin in toaster, handful of spinach in pan, a dab of butter for the egg... And... Hmmm... What if I cooked my egg in spicy butter?  Hmmm... That sounds good... Into the butter went some mystery Turkish seasoning procured in Istanbul, a small small dash of cumin, a large dash of cayenne, CRACK, an egg.  Salt, pepper on everything, garlic salt on spinach, a few slices of a fresh from the garden tomato and "voila!", a spectacular breakfast sandwich.  The tomato and butter (a little more then I would usually use, as I generally cook my spinach with nothing) made the sandwich extra juicy and the juiceness was extra spicy.  It was divine.

It's a Pasta Kind of Week

When I'm traveling for work, it's extremely hard to stay on a budget. Most of the budget just goes to taxis because I'm forever missing the free shuttle.  So when I can, I bring food from home.  I try to bring the things The Mister won't cook or eat himself.  (You would judge me if you heard my, currently, still ineffective lecture on eating the remaining lettuce in our fridge.)

This week I packed tomatoes, cabbage and peanut butter.   Pumpkin peanut butter.  Yes.  Pumpkin.  Then I went to the store in New York and bought basil, Parmesan and pasta with the money a crazy lady threw at me on my Cancun flight, and today I made pasta.  

This pasta tastes like the smell of a garden.   Its fresh and tomatoey.  It's glorious.  I wanted to make pesto but didn't have garlic or lemon, so this was the result.  

Tomato Basil Pasta

1 box thin spaghetti 

5 very ripe tomatoes 

1 bunch of basil

1/4-1/2 cup olive oil (less for more juicy tomatoes)

1/3 cup Parmesan cheese

Salt

Pepper

Boil spaghetti according to package directions until al dente. 

Blend all ingredients except salt and pepper until thick soup consistency. Taste and salt. 

Toss sauce onto hot, drained noodles and mix. The Parmesan will help the sauce thicken and cling to the noodles.  

To serve top with black pepper (course is best!) and a bit of cheese if you have left overs.