Fast and Easy Pasta Dish

I'm doing this post as I slowly melt away. I don't know exactly how hot it is right now, but I probably don't want to know because it would only make me hotter. All I know is, it's too stinkin' hot to have my hands in steaming water washing dishes, or lugging laundry up and down from the laundry room, or heaven forbid vacuum (what the wha kind of word is vacuum anyway??? So weird when you have to look at it.) But it is hot enough to post last nights dinner with a tall glass of water.

Farfalle with Salsa Cruda

You will need:

• Tomatoes, 1 1/2 lb cored and coarsely chopped
• Garlic, 2 cloves, minced
• Fresh basil, 1/2 cup slivered
• Olive oil, 1/2 cup
• Balsamic vinegar, 3 tbsp
• Red pepper flakes, 1/2 tsp
• Smoked or regular mozzarella cheese, 1/2 lb cubed
• Pine nuts, 1/4 cup
• Salt and pepper
• Farfalle, penne or other medium sized pasta, 1 lb
• Prosciutto, 2 oz, thinly sliced and chopped

Just wanted to add a close up of these, I love the colors of summer food!

Excuse me, there's a stupid bird in our window. Okay, there were six of them!! I feel like I'm in an Alfred Hitchcock movie. For some reason the birds have taken a liking to our window sills. I don't know if there's bugs in there or what the heck they are doing but it's annoying. Anyway, I digress.

Put a large pot of water on to boil and in a large bowl, combine the tomatoes, garlic, basil, oil, balsamic vinegar and red pepper flakes. Stir well and let stand at room temperature for about 15 minutes to blend the flavors.

Here's a pic of slivering (is that a word?) basil. An easy way to do it is to lay out your biggest leaf and layer the rest on top then roll them up in a tight bunch and cut them into thin slivers.

Mmmm, watch those flavors blend:).

Meanwhile, in a small, dry frying pan over medium high heat, toast the pine nuts, stirring often, until fragrant and pale gold. 1-2 minutes. Transfer to a plate and set aside. You'll notice I don't have a picture of this. The last time I made this I added them but this time, I was just to lazy to buy pine nuts and I'll tell you,  it was just fine without them.

Stir in the mozzarella and let stand for 10 minutes longer.

I fried up the prosciutto a little in a pan with some evoo.

After the pasta has cooked until al dente, drain well and add the pasta to the sauce, along with the prosciutto. Toss to combine and slightly soften the cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve the pasta warm or at room temp.

We ate it at room temp because it was to hot to eat anything warm. It was scrumptious (I say delicious too much so I'm working on using other adj to describe food). It's also going to be leftovers today and I'm going to eat it cold.

Source: Williams-Sonoma Food Made Fast: Weeknight 

Okay, time to scream at some birds again.