Chilled Tomato Gazpacho with Cucumber and Feta

(I originally authored this post nearly a year ago now, back when we were homeless and living with my in-laws while deep in our house hunt. The recipe was an instant hit but alas, the photo I took before we devoured the soup was not. And so I had to wait a year for my next crop of tomatoes to come full circle so I could make the soup again and snag a better picture. I made this soup with my tomato bounty tonight. Yowser. It's just as good this year as last. If not even better. The ripe tomatoes produced such a natural sweetness in the soup that my husband asked if it was made out of watermelon after taking his first bite. So without further adieu....read on for last year's post and the recipe):

I have already mentioned our Tomato Conundrum. When we moved in with my in-laws back in June, we brought more than just boxes of our belongings. We also brought my patio garden which we added to the plot that was already here. So between all of our tomato plants, fresh tomatoes are piling up almost as rapidly as my 5-year-olds unanswered questions.

This week's menu-planning was easy. Our September Food and Wine Magazine arrived and it's as if they'd peaked over the fence and spied our tomato problem. The issue was plum full of tomato recipes so I dog-eared every one and have great aspirations of catching up with the ripening fruit in the days ahead. I wasn't expecting to have a post-worthy success so early on but this soup struck gold and so I couldn't help but share.

I never would have expected raw pureed tomatoes to taste so amazing but when they are ripened on the vine in your very own garden, there is no comparison. If you don't have a Tomato Conundrum, I'm sure you can find some ripe beauties at the farmer's market that will do just as well. This recipe is fast and easy and I had it ready to serve in the time it took my husband to whip up a tower of gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches. Make sure you use large tomatoes - I used 6 medium-sized Romas and felt like 3-4 more would have better achieved the volume I was shooting for. The tomatoes are first chopped and then pureed in a blender with a drizzle of honey. The soup is topped with red onions and that are lightly caramelized and olives and then tossed with red wine vinegar for a slightly sweet yet tangy contrast to the smooth soup. If olives aren't your thing, leave them out. I have made the soup both ways and the results are lovely. Cucumbers add crunch and feta cheese provides a delicious finish to this late summer hit.

Chilled Tomato Gazpacho with Cucumber and Feta
(adapted from Food and Wine Magazine)

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 

1 small red onion, thinly sliced 
3/4 cup pitted Kalmata olives 
2 tablespoons oregano leaves or 1 tsp dried oregano
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar 
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
Kosher salt 
1 small cucumber, peeled and chopped into small cubes 
1 tablespoon honey 
6 large tomatoes, chopped 
Freshly ground black pepper 
4 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved 
2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (1/2 cup) 

In a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil. Add the onion, olives and oregano and cook over moderately low heat, stirring, until the onion is softened, about 7 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in vinegars. Season with salt. Cool to room temperature. 

Meanwhile, in a bowl, toss the cucumber with 1/2 tablespoon of the honey and season with salt.

In a blender, puree the chopped tomatoes with the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of honey and season generously with salt and pepper. 

Pour the soup into shallow bowls. Top with the onion-olive mixture, cherry tomatoes, cucumber and feta.

Serves 4

Baked Pasta Caprese with Chicken Sausage

If you are in my life and you've had a baby, there is a 96% chance you've already had this dish. Either this one or my other go-to, Kung Pao Chicken Tacos. This is by far our favorite travels-well-freezes-well-doubles-well-makes-ahead-well-everyone-likes-it dinner out there which makes it a perfect drop off dish when someone welcomes a new baby. I usually get asked for the recipe so I'll just cut corners here and put it out there on the Great Ol' Internet.

There was a season of my life back in college and then shortly thereafter when I was on a freezer meal kick. It all started when, as a poor nutrition student, I nabbed a job working for Dream Dinners in West Seattle. Does everyone remember this craze? People would book a session, sometimes even a group of people as a sort of a girls night, go into one of their stores, spend an hour or two throwing ingredients into disposable containers and then leave with 5-10 freezer meals to cook at a future date. It was super hip for awhile there and I just checked and it's still in business so people must still do it. It's a super awesome idea and there have been times where I have stocked my freezer with my own "Dream Dinners."

Anyway, back to my college days. I don't recall the exact chain of events but I sort of had an "in" (or at least I tell myself I did) as one of the founders of the company happened to be a dietitian. I pulled the whole I-Wanna-Be-Like-You card and landed a job working for them. It wasn't actually nearly as glamorous as I'd envisioned, but it looked good on my resume and, in retrospect, gave me some good insight on what types of dishes freeze well. Plus it paid well and helped me put away just enough savings to make it through my 9 month nutrition internship in Texas that followed graduation. I spent a lot of my college afternoons in the store, filling containers at each of the prepping stations with the needed ingredients for each of the recipes. One the participants arrived, I would stand awkwardly in the corner, available for any questions they might have or to refill anything that was running low. Then, when the night came to a close, I would toss unused ingredients and clean up shop for the next day.

This pasta dish never went through the rotation while I worked at the shop, but I stumbled upon it when I, as a dedicated employee, purchased the Dream Dinners cookbook. They call the recipe Summer Pasta, but I've since changed the name as I always felt a little silly telling someone who had just had a baby that I was bringing them "Summer Pasta." In December. Obviously, it's much more flavorful in the summer months when the basil and tomatoes are at their finest, but these days you can find those ingredients year round and I can vouch that it's still pretty tasty in the winter.

I've tweaked a few other items in the recipe and always use whole wheat penne instead of regular. I also like to add red pepper flakes for a little kick but if spicy isn't desired, leave them out and increase the black pepper to 1 tsp. You can mix up the flavors some by using different varieties of chicken sausage - Italian works great as does anything with sun-dried tomato.

 As written, the recipe makes a pretty large batch but I usually like to double it and then transfer the contents into three gallon-sized ziplocks as a double batch can easily be stretched to feed the family (depending on their size) for 3 meals. Correction. It feeds them for two meals because I keep one of the bags for us! ;) I've included instructions on how to eat the dish tonight, or how to freeze it and then bake it at a future date. So without further adieu...

Baked Pasta Caprese with Chicken Sausage
(adapted from Dream Dinners)

1 pound whole wheat penne
12 ounces precooked chicken sausage, sliced 1/4-inch thick
8 oz mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
8 ounces plum tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup chopped fresh basil
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Heat a large pot of water to boiling and cook the pasta as directed to al dente. Drain and rinse with cold water to cool. Combine the remaining ingredients together in a large bowl and stir to mix. Add pasta and toss.

To serve tonight:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Pour pasta mixture into a 9 x 13 inch pan coated with cooking spray and cover with foil. Bake for 20 minutes or until thoroughly heated and the mozzarella is just starting to melt.

To freeze:
Pour combined pasta mixture into 1-2 gallon zip locks (depending on whether you want to have one big meal or stretch it to two) and freeze. Thaw in fridge 1-2 days before baking as directed above.

Serves 6