You come to a point, when things just happen…change develops and will continue to do so without your control. You go with the flow without trying to lose your own control.
Flowing with the momentum gathering and extracting ideas and recipes.
Today I have two easy recipes for you, one is a vinaigrette and another a pasta recipe. What I like about this is that all these recipes are approachable and their ingredients completely attainable. See, I love pasta I love noodles and the following recipe sums up what a pasta dish is to me. Light and filling and satisfyingly warm and comforting. For this recipe I suggest any dried hand rolled pasta. I find the nooks and crannies of a hand rolled pasta capture the sauce beautifully. An Orechiette might also work, and if your looking for noodle strands I suggest maybe even a Buccatini. 
But I have to tell you, I used dry farmed early girl tomatoes and I found the flavors with these wonderfully sweet and tartly balanced gems pretty awesome when cooked with pasta.
Also there is a recipe for a vinaigrette. This recipe for a vinaigrette or dressing is great because it clings on to whatever greens you are using. I recently went on 101Cookbooks and found a recipe for a Double Broccoli and Quinoa salad – I made this dressing instead of the broccoli pesto in that recipe – I am sure that it changed the mouth feel of the salad, but it was still delicious – but I also used this dressing on a kale salad, and can imagine it being used with little gems and romaine. Daniel and I also used it to dress our salmon En Papillote – we also added a bit of preserved lemon and shallots in the parchment packet.
Strozzapreti w/Tomatoes, Zuccini, Pinenuts and Oregano.
6 oz. Pasta 3 Cloves Garlic – 1 T. Chopped or 1.5 T. Sliced. 1.5 T. Roughly Chopped Fresh Oregano. 1.5 C. Fresh Tomatoes – (you can also use canned but it will not have the same flavor) 1 C. Coins of Green Zuccini 1/3 C. Roasted Pinenuts *Optional – 1/2 C. Fresh Ricotta. *Optional – 1 tsp. Chili Flakes Bring Salted Water to Boil – Add the 6 ounces of pasta. In Oven or separate pan toast pinenuts til fragrant and slightly golden. Set Aside. Start pan with Olive Oil. Add Garlic-tilt pan so that oil and garlic creates a pool and infuses oil without coloring the garlic- Add Zuccini – Toss well to coat – 2 minutes – Add Chopped Tomatoes – Cook another 3 minutes – Check your pasta – You want this sauce and pasta on the thicker and richer side- on the saucy side- on the also stewwy side – to do this the pasta will have to finish cooking in the sauce. Your pasta will be about 2-3 minutes from the finished cooking time. This texture will be crunchy yet the outside will be soft – not quite Al Dente. The dish will finish cooking in the pan with the sauce, the starches will lend a hand to developing the rich element of this dish. The way the exterior starches in the Aborio rice helps to create the creaminess of a risotto.Add pasta + 1/2 C. pasta water into sauce pan. Add roughly chopped fresh Oregano. On medium heat – Continue to cook . Let Stew and simmer till sauce richens and pasta is cooked. Season with salt and pepper. Be careful not to over season – your pasta water was also salted.To Serve – Sprinkle Pinenuts on pasta and lightly toss to. Finish with a nice fresh olive oil – You can also do dollops of fresh ricotta and black pepper. The ricotta will bring a delicious, milky neutral element to the dish – it also offsets the acidity of the wonderful tomatoes.
Creamy Tahini and Basil Vinaigrette.
1 Large Lemon Zest 1/8 C. of Lemon Juice 1/4 C. Champagne Vinegar 1-2 Cloves Garlic – Microplaned i.e using a zester- or very finely chopped 1/2 C. Tahini 1 Bunch Basil 3/4 C. Olive Oil In a bowl zest 1 large lemon and extract it’s juice. Rasp or microplane a medium sized clove of garlic into bowl, add champagne vinegar, add salt.Add 1/2 C of Tahini and incorporate well till uniform –
Place your roughly chop basil in blender- pour in olive oil – Pulse til basil is roughly chopped to releasing its green juices and flavors but has not yet bruised. Bruised basil will result in a less bright basil flavor. To do so place on high for a mere 3 seconds. Too much heat and speed from the blender will harm the flavor.
You can also use a hand wand, or you can roughly chop your basil (but be sure to use a very sharp knife) place in olive oil and press down to release the juices to create a basil oil. – Slowly drizzle basil oil into the Tahini mixture and whisk til incorporated. Trying not to break the dressing. Season to taste.
State of Flux 