Last Night’s Dinner

This is about as simple as it gets - I rubbed a couple of tuna steaks down with a mixture of chopped fresh garlic and Herbes de Provence, seasoned them with salt and poured over a healthy amount of olive oil, then grilled them over hardwood for about five minutes per side. I served them with a dollop of homemade lemon pesto (sans cheese) and a salad of arugula, radish, fresh corn and tomatoes. Light, bright and delicious - this was everything I want in a late summer supper.

I was never a fan of tomatoes until my dad started growing them in our yard. That first taste of sweet, juicy tomato flesh still warm from the sun was all it took – I was hooked, and looked forward to fresh summer tomatoes from that point forward.

We grow plenty of our own these days – a variety of heirlooms and hybrids – but while I wait for our homegrown beauties to ripen, I buy plenty of tomatoes from the growers at the Greenmarket. Walking around, seeing the variety of shapes, sizes and colors, I’m like a kid in a candy store. I worry sometimes about buying more than we can eat before they spoil, but somehow that never happens. Others have written about their love affair with heirloom tomatoes; I adore them as well, but my real favorites are the little grape, cherry and pear varieties. I can polish off an entire pint myself, popping them into my mouth like bon bons.

I love them straight or tossed with olive oil, bocconcini and fresh basil; I love them halved in green salads or mixed into pasta, grain or bean salads. I love them skewered and tossed on the grill until their skins begin to blister and split or, as the season wanes and the weather is more oven-friendly, I love them roasted on a sheet pan with salt and olive oil, ready to spoon on top of a slice of grilled bread.

These little gems really shine when cooked just briefly with garlic and onion sautéed in plenty of olive oil, hot cooked pasta, and a couple of big handfuls of baby arugula – probably my favorite summer pasta dish, one that takes just minutes to cook and won’t heat up the whole kitchen in the process.

Campanelle with Tomatoes and Arugula

1 lb. Campanelle or other small, chunky pasta shape
Extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 small onion, diced
1/2 teaspoon red chile flakes (or more to taste)
1 pint small tomatoes – cherry, grape, pear or a combination – halved
3-4 cups baby arugula leaves
Freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese

Cook pasta in plenty of boiling salted water approximately 8-10 minutes, until cooked but still firm to the bite.

Heat several tablespoons of olive oil in a deep skillet, add onion and salt and cook over medium heat until the onion is soft and translucent. Add garlic and chile flakes and continue cooking until the garlic is golden. A minute or two before the pasta is done, add the tomatoes to the pan, season with a bit more salt, add a ladleful of the pasta water and stir.

With a slotted spoon or spider, transfer the pasta to the skillet and gently toss with the tomatoes. Turn off the heat and add the arugula a handful at a time, tossing gently to incorporate. Add cheese and serve.

Fresh fava beans are yet another item I have come to love and eagerly anticipate each year. As soon as I heard that they were showing up at the Greenmarket, I had Mike keep an eye out for them, and I was thrilled when he told me he snagged some.

Favas can be a little labor-intensive, as they have to be removed from their spongy pods and the individual beans peeled, but as with shelling peas, I don’t mind the work, and find the reward well worth it. Most people blanch the shelled favas before peeling off the skins, but I usually just peel them before cooking.

I ended up with about two cups of favas, and then came the hardest part – trying to decide what to do with them. I had a bunch of ideas in mind, and had looked at several recipes throughout the course of the day for inspiration, but I was still torn. I finally narrowed it down to two preparations, and Mike made the final decision – a light pasta dish with blanched favas, arugula and lemon.

The pasta we used was a delicious golden beet and goat cheese ravioli from Casa Tua in the Essex Street Market. I decided to make an arugula and lemon puree as a base for the pasta in addition to the fresh arugula I would add on top; a couple of garlic cloves, some kosher salt, the juice and zest of a lemon, and a big handful of young wild arugula leaves went into the mini chopper, I pureed the mixture until smooth, and then blended in about 1/4 cup of olive oil to finish it.

I spooned the arugula and lemon puree onto our plates, reserving a spoonful or so to toss the blanched favas with. I placed the ravioli on top of the puree, spooned the favas on top of that, and added a small handful of arugula leaves to each plate. A few crumbled walnuts, a little more lemon zest, and some thick shards of Pecorino Romano cheese were the finishing touches.

This turned out even better than I had hoped. The colors of the beet pasta and the favas and arugula were gorgeous on the plate, the dish was light but very satisfying, and the flavors complemented each other beautifully. This is definitely one to keep in our repertoire for fava bean season.