I tried to hit fast forward to summer this weekend— we heated up the pool, blasted reggae and barbequed chicken on the grill.  There was one necessary summer ingredient missing: those sweet, juicy summertime tomatoes.  In a pre-season pinch, I always choose Campari tomatoes at the store. Small in size and packed with sweetness, they really are the best choice when you need a little bite of summer— right now.

Though I wish they would do away with the plastic containers...

The weather has been crazy beautiful lately. Santa Barbara feels more like summer, than spring— or the way we wish summer felt when all that June gloom fog rolls in. Last week, in the midst of all the Easter prep madness I escaped to the garden. Late afternoon is absolutely my favorite time to work in the dirt (thank you, daylight savings). Spending some solo time planting, harvesting and making trellises was just what I needed. Those of you that have vegetable gardens can attest to the peace of mind that comes from this honest, fruitful work.

Fava bean flowers

Japanese eggplant. Love the flavor, love the color.

Potatoes

Mid Pride peach tree, should be ready for harvest in July

The Easter Bunny found a good little nook.

Blueberry bush

Smaller varietals of tomatoes, like these, tend to do better in the early months of the season.

“Spring makes its own statement, so loud and clear that the gardener seems to be only one of the instruments, not the composer.”

—Geoffrey B. Charlesworth

This quick red sauce is a staple in our home. It’s both easy to pull together and simply delicious. The longer it simmers on the stove— and when I simmer, it’s a “high” simmer, I like it to really bubble— the more intense the flavor. But honestly it doesn’t need to sit on the stove for hours as Nona’s did back in the old country to taste good.

I always have it on hand to use for pastas, pizza, and mix it in with sautéed garden veg. The key to the sauce is the San Marzano tomatoes (Italian plum will not do — the flavor is so much better in the SM’s).  I tried growing San Marzano’s in the garden one year with no success. Now, I’m totally committed to the canned version-even canned San Marzano’s had incredible flavor. With minimal ingredients, this recipe is all about the tomatoes. It’s a great example of my philosophy that simple, well-chosen ingredients make the best meals.

This recipe makes enough sauce for one pound of pasta, so if you are cooking a smaller portion of pasta, save the extra sauce to use for pizza night.

Here's the sauce with with zucchini pasta

Val’s Easy Red Sauce

1 24 oz can San Marzano tomatoes

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, sliced

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon butter

 

Heat oil on medium heat and add garlic, cook until you can smell the garlic. Add tomatoes (removing basil leaf from the can) and bring to boil. Once it boils, simmer on stove for up to 1 hour (but at least ten minutes), add the salt stirring occasionally.  When you are ready to use the sauce, taste for seasoning and take the pan off the heat and stir in the butter.  (For a smooth sauce, emulsify with a hand blender adding the butter as you do it) Either way will result in a beautiful, tasty sauce.

 

To make a pink sauce: Ladle your desired amount of sauce into a large bowl with pasta and then add ¼ cup heavy cream and toss to incorporate.

 

To make it spicy: When cooking garlic add 1/2 teaspoon of red chili flakes.

There always seems to be a wild tomatillo volunteer that pops up in my garden. Tomatillos grow like weeds and commandeer an impolite amount of garden space, but I love their leggy look and striking lanterns, and hey, what do you know—their taste as well. The wild varieties of the tomatillo are by far more flavorful than the smaller ones you’ll find in the market and they’re laced with aubergine trim—gorgeous.

This year I found three tomatillo volunteers growing rampant in my garden, so I started to use them for more than cooking and making salsa. Tomatillo salsa, by the way, is amazing, but so are the tomatillo plants in my flower arrangements—I love it when you get multiple uses from a simple garden vegetable (Check back here on Tuesday for my roasted green salsa recipe).

Tomatillos work simply with some David Austin roses …

 and conjure up a spooky feel on my Halloween buffet.

My friend, Chef Kim Schiffer (whom I think of as Mother Teresa and Alice Waters all wrapped up into one), recently volunteered to cook a luncheon to benefit Fairview Gardens, the organic fruit and vegetable mecca in Goleta, just north of Santa Barbara. Kim asked me to help her a bit, and pre-game in the kitchen. I always jump at the chance to spend time in the kitchen with her; it’s a spiritual-culinary-inspirational-soothing experience. Our conversation meanders as we prep, chatting about menus, life, what’s growing in our gardens, new finds at the farmers market and dreaming up new concoctions. We are true kindred cooking spirits.

One of my jobs that morning was turning the zucchini into pasta with a great tool called—what else—the Zucchini Noodle Maker & Veggie Slicer. This amazing machine transforms produce with a simple crank of the handle, turning zucchini into wonderful spirals. If you have a garden, if you are gluten free, if you are just into fun kitchen tools, you owe it to yourself to buy one! It’s a fantastic way to turn your veggies into something delicious and super healthy. When Kim asked if I wanted to borrow hers, I thought of the pounds of excess zucchini, carrots, squash and eggplant from my garden and said—yes!

The machine, in all its glory. A bit medieval-looking, yes?

For dinner that night I gave this nifty contraption a whirl and made mock pasta with fresh tomato sauce. With six small Italian zucchinis, my girls helped twirl out a mound of “pasta.” Kim recommended that I toss the twirls in a bowl with salt and pepper and let it rest for a spell while I prepared the sauce.

The zucchinis behaved wonderfully:

And … voila!

While the zucchini pasta was sitting on the counter I grabbed about 2 1/2 pounds of different types of tomatoes from the garden and sautéed them, chunked up in a pan, with 2 cloves of garlic, salt, red pepper and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. I let this simmer on medium heat for about 30 minutes.

Fresh, fresh tomatoes:

Simmering. Puréed and back in the pan. Plated.

About ten minutes before dinnertime, I drained the zucchini pasta (some water had accumulated at the bottom of the bowl), spread it out on a cookie sheet, and broiled it for about 5 minutes around 6” from the heat. (This won’t brown the produce, but rather warms it up for serving.) While that was in the oven I puréed my sauce and returned it to the pan to keep it warm. Finally, I tossed the pasta into the sauce and topped it with Parmesan cheese and fresh basil. Healthy, delicious and a huge hit with the family! Time to buy my own Zucchini Noodle Maker!

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