SobaAddict70

Linguine with sweet peppers, garlic, pear and cherry tomatoes

Cheese omelette (with goat's milk ricotta cheese from Lynnhaven Dairygoats) Fried LaRatte fingerling potatoes, with heirloom tomatoes, parsley and rosemary

Nothing says "autumn" to me so much as matsutake gohan (Japanese rice steamed with matsutake mushrooms). Chanterelles, shiitakes and morels number among my favorites as well.

Was pressed for time tonight so I threw something together in short order. Fusilli with summer squash, heirloom tomatoes and anchovy Sometimes all you really need for a pasta sauce is a great olive oil and some wonderful vegetables. Add a glass of wine and you're set.

Next time I make hard-cooked eggs, I'll post a pic of some halves. Maybe later this week as you've now instilled a craving for devilled eggs, you evil man. To my recollection, the off-center thing has never been a problem.

Aesthetics don't bother me ... but they might for other people. If you look at the pix in the pasta sauce rut thread, they come out looking picture perfect. Stirring seems unnecessary.

welll... as soon as the water comes to a gentle boil, I slip the eggs in. they're pretty fresh (usually get them at the farmer's market). then I set the kitchen timer to 10 minutes at which time, they're done. I've never had difficulty using this method.

This is a version of carbonara that I did recently. It contains some minor deviations from Batali's recipe (shallots, garlic, pinot gris, parsley); and the eggs are hard-cooked instead of raw.

Fusilli with potatoes, tomato and herbs Don't laugh ... even though your natural reaction will probably be "starch with starch???", it's a common Neapolitan specialty. This is the vegetarian version -- with baby Yukon Gold potatoes, shallots, heirloom tomato, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt-packed capers, parsley, chives and lots of excellent extra-virgin olive oil. The usual variation has pancetta instead.

Thanks Steven. Someone mentioned pesto. Very easily done, with just about any type of fresh green herb (or in some cases, vegetable). One strong favorite I always make -- albeit in the spring -- uses ramps. It's ramps, lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil and salt. To this, add cooked pasta, onion chives and sautéed fresh peas. Now, this isn't exactly a "traditional" recipe, but that's not the point. It's all about adapting whatever you've got on hand. You can easily tune the recipe for something less well-known, like puntarelle (a type of chicory) or something more mundane, like arugula.

Tomato sauces are a minority in my kitchen. Most of my preps don't use tomatoes, and then only in the summer when they're mostly abundant. Here are several examples (all recipes on the blog): Farfalle with asparagus and soft-cooked duck and quail eggs This is actually three dishes, each prepared separately, then combined at the end. Roasted asparagus with salt and olive oil; farfalle in an herb butter sauce, and soft-cooked eggs. You can substitute chicken eggs if duck and quail eggs are unavailable. Pasta with pork pan-drippings and red cippolini onion The base for this sauce was pan-drippings from some pork sausage that had been broiled for another night's dinner. Penne with manouri cheese, fried breadcrumbs and garlic A riff on cacio e pepe, this dish also includes elements from another Italian classic, pasta con aglio e olio (pasta with olive oil and garlic). You can make it in literally 10 minutes … or 15, if you’re not adept at peeling garlic cloves. Fettucine with mussels and chorizo This is a dish that was inspired by a paella I ate at a friend's place in southern New Jersey. Chorizo sausage is cooked with garlic and white wine, then combined with cooked pasta and steamed fresh mussels. Extra-virgin olive oil contributes a little "heft". Regular readers of my blog know that I adore gnocchi, especially ricotta gnocchi. Suzanne Goins has a great recipe in her cookbook, Sunday Suppers at Lucques. Once you master the basic technique, you can make gnocchi year-round. Some of my favorite preps include: ...with chanterelles, zucchini and nasturtium flowers ...with Sungold cherry tomatoes and shiitake mushrooms ...with asparagus, sage and wild mushrooms There's a seasonal variant I do in the winter that involves bacon, cabbage and onion confit. It has a smoky, yet haunting flavor that reminds me of a cozy fireplace.

Baked rainbow trout with slow-roasted tomato "compote" Coconut rice The "compote" consists of 2 chopped slow-roasted tomatoes, 1 large shallot (chopped), 1 tablespoon salt-packed capers, 2 tablespoons pitted mixed olives, 6 tablespoons dry riesling (or other white wine), salt, black pepper, 3 tablespoons olive oil and chopped parsley. Mix all ingredients together, then spoon atop rainbow trout fillets. Bake at 350 F for 15 to 20 minutes or until fish flakes with a fork. Coconut rice consists of 1 cup long-grain rice cooked in 2 cups coconut milk, along with a pinch of salt, a generous pinch of turmeric, a pinch of asafoetida, 5 to 6 dried curry leaves, and approx. 1 tablespoon chopped parsley.

Try it with roasted butternut squash and caramelized onion. I also serve it, with pork chops or in place of cranberry sauce, alongside roast turkey.

Watermelon curry sounds interesting. Now THAT's something I've never heard of. Sunday dinner was a typical Slow Food affair at Chez Spamwise Slow-roasted tomatoes (about 1 lb. plum tomatoes, halved; then arranged in a Pyrex roasting pan, with a scant pinch of salt and pepper per tomato half, olive oil and some chopped garlic; roasted at 250 F for 5 hours) Fresh fettucine with slow-roasted tomatoes, tomato oil (leftover olive oil in the roasting pan, to which was added 1 slow-roasted tomato, salt, pepper, chopped parsley, then the whole thing puréed), cheese and herbs Slow-roasted toms will be featured in meals throughout this week.

It's "use-up-the-vegetables-in-the-crisper" theme night. Roasted peanut fingerling potatoes, green beans and Italian frying peppers, with heirloom tomatoes and garlic chives The actual vegetables don't matter much. Peanut fingerling potatoes (an heirloom variety of fingerlings named because of their nutty flavor; excellent roasted, boiled or steamed), green beans and sliced Italian frying peppers, tossed with salt and olive oil, then roasted for 30 minutes at 350 F. Combined with chopped heirloom tomato, garlic chives, 1 tablespoon garlic jelly and extra-virgin olive oil. Served with plenty of Italian bread. Leftovers will be transformed into panzanella.

It depends on the type of tomato, where it was obtained and what you intend to do with them. For example: these were canned organic tomatoes that were slow-roasted at 250 F for 6 hours -- I wanted to concentrate their flavor to approximate what I would expect if they had been fresh. hard to obtain equivalent tomatoes in the middle of December unless you buy hothouse varieties (and those don't really have the same "oomph" I'm looking for) these beauties were a tray of yellow plum tomatoes that were roasted at 200 F for 10 hours, then transformed into confit. nothing's better than pulling out a jar of tomato confit in the depth of winter. it's like jarred sunshine. and then there are times when you want a quick confit, like this: 2 ripe Jersey tomatoes in an olive oil bath with salt, pepper and parsley. These were roasted at 350 F for 90 minutes -- just enough to transform their texture to a luscious softness while simultaneously infusing the oil with their essence. you can tell that I'm a freak when it comes to tomatoes.

The thing with Indian food (if you're a bachelor like I am) is that when you make it, there's a ton of leftovers. Tonight's dinner: Okra, shrimp and tomato curry over coconut rice If you omit the shrimp, it becomes bhindi masala.

Summer squash gratin Sucrine salad with sherry vinaigrette Gratin adapted from Alice Waters' recipe in The Art of Simple Food. I didn't make very many tweaks, apart from the fried breadcrumb topping and the use of red onions (b/c it's what I had on hand). Also used three different varieties of summer squash (globe zucchini, yellow zucchini and sunburst squash).

Fettucine with garlic shrimp and heirloom tomatoes

Penne with uncooked tomato sauce (heirloom tomatoes, salt, black pepper, scallions, Italian parsley; extra-virgin olive oil; 1 *scant* teaspoon pecorino -- but only because I like a little contrast ... this dish really doesn't need cheese imho) Apricots for dessert

Slow-roasted cherry tomatoes. Cut cherry tomatoes in half, sprinkle with a scant teaspoon of kosher salt and maybe 2 tablespoons regular olive oil, then roast at 200 F for 6 hours. Quick version is 350 F for 90 minutes. Then combine with goat cheese (I used manouri cheese, a semi-soft Greek sheep's milk cheese similar in flavor and texture to feta) and fresh pasta. Tomatoes can be made ahead. If you roast enough of them -- say, about 2 lbs. worth, you can turn it into confit and can them. This was Friday night's dinner and let me tell you, the wait was worth every minute. I have some leftovers, probably for tomorrow's breakfast. Scrambled eggs with tomato confit is a stroke of genius.

Tonight's dinner was tailor-made for this thread... Left: Roasted cauliflower, dusted with asafoetida and aamchur (dried mango powder); Right: dry-fried green beans and potatoes, with Indian spices, lemon and coconut

I go to the market, see what looks good and plan accordingly. Of course, I have the luxury of being single with no dependents. Would it help if I blogged a sample "walkthrough"? Tomorrow is market day at USGM -- I plan on getting there early in the morning contrary to my usual practice of arriving at 12 noon. Temps in New York City are supposed to reach 98 by midday; with the humidity, it will probably be over 100. As of right now, I have no plans on what to cook for the next few days. I usually have some idea within half an hour of getting to the Greenmarket.

Ricotta gnocchi (from scratch) with Sungold cherry tomatoes and shiitake mushrooms. I probably used enough butter to choke a horse. Cantaloupe for dessert.

Leftover pasta from last night. In addition, I had an overabundance of summer squash that needed to be eaten, so .... Summer squash gratin Sucrine salad with sherry vinaigrette