This hardly merits a post, but it’s one of those quintessential summer dishes that one feels obliged to document because it feels somehow like blogatorial malpractice to let summer pass without a post about pesto and tomatoes. Hell, maybe someone in Australia or Antarctica or Northern Canadia needs a provocative hot-weather pornocopia shot to get themselves off. I live to serve, after all.
So, herewith, pesto made from basil, walnuts, olive oil, and sherry vinegar (to pick up on the walnutty goodness) and tossed into whole wheat spaghetti and Sungold tomatoes (with a couple of Glaciers thrown in too; I bought the starts because they claimed to be very early-ripening, and indeed they are). We added crunchy salt at the table, since it makes both pesto and tomato flavos pop with hedonistic abandon. Most interesting in many ways was our salad, which I had made in the morning: chiffonaded kale marinated in more of that cream whey and salt until it got all soft and flavory. Part pickle, part salad, part coleslaw with ranch dressing, it was an instant favorite.
I had to yank my kale and feed it to my friend's chickens, cuzza how covered in icky caterpillars they are. Going in its place? The Glacier tomato starts I just bought (with green toms already on – still cheaper than buying a pound of tomatoes at the store).
I usually get Early Girls, but was too late this year. How do the Glaciers rate flavor-wise?
a fried egg on top would have been perfect…
i said that just to bug you but i know it didn't work…
They're OK; like big cherries. Not long on umami, but sweet enough.
Claudia: Snaps for trying, though.
no egg porn – thank you. but did you actually add an egg at the end and just not photograph it? we won't tell! liking the kale idea. i think that kale is finally starting to get noticed as a delicious thing to eat b/c when i first moved to brooklyn it was 99cents a pound. today? i can barely afford it at 2.99 a pound! seriously, i freaking hate when this happens.
That's why I grow it. Even better are the $7 bunches of lamb's quarters you can get at Union Square; they're WEEDS.
I am a sucker for such seasonal basics. I'm boring like that.