So the last time I was here, on this blog, yammering away, I was going on and on about a summer composed lasagna or whatever the foodie term is. I had rushed out to buy even MORE tomatoes, and I was going to make this dish, and it was going to be fantabulous. And then I disappeared for a bit. You're probably thinking, girl, those tomatoes are going to be no good to you if you're going to let them sit and sit. Well, do not fear! I did not let those tomatoes go to waste. I did make a version of a pasta dish I described to you, but it was lunch time and I was hungry and I didn't know where my camera was at the moment, or maybe it was low on battery life, and the point is I ate it without taking a picture of it, so there.
However, I was thinking of you, dear reader (and that means you, Kev), the whole time and I knew I would have to make this dish again because it was 1. delicious and 2. easy-peasy. But in usual fashion, I did not make the dish I set out to make. Mostly out of laziness, but partly because I'm trying to clear out my fridge a little so I've been trying to minimize my grocery shopping (basically, it's impossible), I made a modified version of it.
Version No. 1 goes like this: a raw tomato sauce comprising of cherry tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, splash of red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, dried herbs, blended to a chunky consistency; No-boil lasagna noodles, broken in large pieces, boiled; summer squash cut into slices, and lightly grilled. I layered the dish in this order: noodles, squash, raw tomato sauce, and topped the whole thing with crumbles of goat cheese. It was utterly delicious, fresh and light tasting, very end of summer-appropriate. Woo, pat me on the back for cooking seasonally. I had even bought the squash at a farmers market so a mini-pat for cooking locally. The squash was amazingly tasting, a weird one I hadn't seen before, half light green, half yellow. It was sweeter than the squash sold at supermarket with a faint citrus flavor. Yum.
The picture you see above is Version No. 2. Version No. 2 improves upon Version No. 1 by omitting the sun-dried tomatoes, which I think flavor-wise dulled the summery taste of the sauce. My original inspiration for this sauce came from here, which is actually vegan and raw food. I also added a little parmesan cheese and green onions because I had some kicking around the fridge, but I do feel they can be omitted without much harm. Version No. 2 also swaps out squash for spinach because that's what I had in the fridge. In any case, spinach or squash works, and I imagine eggplant or mushrooms would find this a great playground too.
Originally, after seeing how the olive oil emulsified in Version No. 1's raw tomato sauce, I wanted to chop the tomatoes by hand because I wanted a bright vibrant red color and the emulsified oil turns the sauce a more rosy red. However, when I made Version No. 2, I was lazy and just whizzed it in the blender but then I left the tomato sauce in the fridge for about 2 hours to let the flavors settle (and for me to go to the gym). Doing so allowed the oil to de-emulsify (is that a word?) and gave me that richer red color that I wanted. I just had to ding the sauce in the microwave for a bit to bring it to room temperature so that it wouldn't be too cold for the dish.
Overall, it was a great success! The boy loved it, and it was such a easy thing to throw together that it will certainly make its way back into my table.
P.S. Thought I'd throw in this picture of the tomato soup I made with the remaining tomatoes from my friend. Roasted the tomatoes with red peppers, a red onion, and garlic, simmered with chicken stock, finished with a bit of cream, and blended until mostly smooth. It was quite good but too sweet for my taste so no red peppers next time.
And I think we're done with tomatoes for the time being.
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