This is my first blog ever, so here goes....
Two of the many things I love in life are - cooking and bargains!
I bought all the lovely fresh produce above for just £11.08 from my local shop the 'Fresh Quality Greengrocers' in Brentwood High Street, Essex.
They have a brilliant bargain bucket box and for the princely sum of 50 pence I bought 1.4 kilos of vine tomatoes. Some of which I used to make my home made 'tomato and mascarpone sauce'.
tomato and mascarpone sauce
© Linda Edmonds (the cookery Angel)
ingredients
750 g fresh tomatoes
125 - 150 g mascarpone cheese
75 - 100 g grated parmigiano reggiano cheese
small handful fresh snipped basil and parsley
2 large garlic cloves
1 teaspoon sugar
tablespoon of olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
method
Put fresh whole tomatoes in a large bowl and pour boiling water over them until completely covered. Leave for 5 minutes then carefully pour off water. De- skin tomatoes and chop into chunks. I don't bother taking seeds out as I like the texture.
In a large pan on the lowest heat setting, gently sauté the garlic cloves in their skins in 1 tablespoon of olive oil until very soft (about 5 - 8 minutes). Do not let it burn as this make it bitter. If the garlic starts to sizzle, turn off heat and the garlic will sauté in the residual heat. Test with a tip of the knife to see if the garlic is soft then take garlic out of a pan, remove skin and chop finely. This method gives a lovely flavour to the garlic and is well worth the effort. I use sautéed garlic in salad dressings, pizzas, pastas garlic bread etc.
Add the chopped fresh tomatoes, sautéed garlic and sugar then place lid on pan and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove lid and mash down tomato pulp with a potato masher for smoother texture. Replace lid and simmer for 20 minutes. Check a few times to stir and a little water if sauce is getting too thick.
Add freshly snipped herbs and cook uncovered for about 3 minutes, stirring the sauce now & then.
Add the mascarpone cheese, grated parmigiano reggiano and nutmeg. Turn up the heat slightly and gently stir until thoroughly combined. Taste for seasoning then add salt and pepper to your liking. You may need to add a little more sugar too depending on tartness of fresh tomatoes.
Add 250 - 375 g (dry/fresh weight before cooking) of cooked pasta to the pan of sauce and stir until all pasta is coated. Serve immediately.
We had it with home made focaccia to mop up all the sauce
Enjoy!
© Linda Edmonds (the cookery Angel)
See below for my recipe for 'olive and herb focaccia' shown in above picture.
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