I know I just wrote about a red sauce for One Local Summer, but I made another tonight that I’m just delighted with. Mike, well, not so much. But that’s okay – if we agreed all the time what would we talk about over dinner?
After playing with the tractor (I learned to drive it!), cleaning stalls and chatting with the hens dinner needed to be fast and easy tonight. A few days ago I put some ground pork in the fridge to thaw out with the intention of making sausage but hadn’t gotten to it yet. In contemplating something to make with it I remembered Tea’s recent post about zucchini noodles with pesto. Voila! Inspiration!
On a quick wander through the garden I found the first ripe (well almost) pepper, a red onion, basil, sage, oregano and thyme. I tossed all that in the dutch oven with the pork and some homegrown garlic, added some salt and pepper plus a bit of nutmeg and simmered it for a few minutes. Then I added a quart of homegrown diced tomatoes and a pint of homemade tomato sauce. Finally, I used our mandoline-wannabe to julienne some homegrown zucchini and then topped it with the sauce.
It was the perfect dish for tonight. Light and flavorful, full of the tastes of summer. I’d post a recipe, but I really wasn’t paying that much attention. So instead, here’s the method to the madness…
1 lb local organic ground pork
1 small red onion, diced
1 Tbs chopped fresh sage
1 tsp fresh thyme
salt and pepper
a pinch of nutmeg
Saute in a dutch oven until the pork is no longer pink. Then add:
3 cloves garlic, minced
a big handful of basil, chopped
1 Tbs chopped fresh oregano
1 small pepper, diced
Cook for a minute or two until it’s fragrant. Then add:
1 quart diced tomatoes
1 pint tomato sauce
Simmer until you can’t wait any longer, serve over noodles or julienned zucchini.
*****
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That. Sounds. Amazing.
And I so miss wandering through the garden, picking what’s ripe and then putting it to use…immediately.
Yum! What was Mike’s objection to it? Was it a texture thing because of the zucchini? This sounds like something I’d like to make, but I have a feeling my husband would wrinkle his nose at the zucchini part. Boys.
Laura, after reading yours & Tea’s post I’ve had this twice, both with pesto because I had some already made (by Kevin). It’s seriously delicious and I love that it’s so much lighter than pasta. This is a definite go-meal. I’m sure I’ll try it with red sauce soon too.
I really like the idea of julienne-d zucchini in this dish. And yey for learning to drive the tractor!