lemony summer vegetable pasta toss with marinated mozzarella

meatless monday
notes from maggie's farm

It's HOT out there!

This is not news.  I know you, your lawn, your gardens, your pets, your HAIR--well, we're all suffering from the heat.  If you are someplace cool, we hate you a little right now.  Because, just in case we haven't said it before, in our world, and in most of yours'...


It's HOT out there!


And too darned hot to do a lot of cooking.  Or heavy eating, for that matter.  We want something cool, something light, something refreshing, because we feel absolutely NONE of those right now.


And it's days like these that call for a quick in-and-out of the kitchen, with energy to spare, please.


So, on Mondays, we often take to the fridge, standing there long enough for that ding-ding-ding-close-the-door-you're-we're-not-air conditioning-the-world! alarm to come on, and be ignored, as we rifle around for the leftovers of the weekend's pool-party, dinner al dente, picnic, appetizer take-to, or whatever glorious things you did with a little fresh fixings over the weekend, all to be tossed together for a bowl of delicious that we can nosh on for the next few days.  The next few days of NO COOKING.  


This weekend, we'd visited a friend who had a lovely platter of summery fresh veggies and cheese to serve guests.  She'd had quite enough of the summery fresh veggies and cheese by the end of the day, and, knowing I never say no to summery fresh veggies and cheese, implored me to take home the leftovers.  Yes. YES, I said.


They were things many of us have in our fridge right now.  Or ought to, anyway, because, thrown together like this, at the last minute, when you have no idea what to do about dinner--well, they're lifesavers. Consider picking some of these up to keep on hand for quick summer suppers next time you're at the market.

What we came home with:
marinated mozzarella 
cherry tomatoes
sugar snap peas


What we had:
whole grain pasta
fresh herbs
lemons.  Always, we have lemons. Lemons make our my heart sing. More on that... 


My love for lemons is well-documented, however, one of us, around here, and it is NOT ME, is not crazy about lemon. I knew this about him before we married, and while it gave me pause, I chose to overlook this obvious flaw of character and partner up anyway. It's something I work around, much like he does my late-night addiction to playing Mah Jong, online. He is not averse to the sweet, and precious, may I add, addition of lemon zest, which takes the sour bite out of the dish.  If you, like him, are not a fan of the lemony pucker, decrease, or, it pains me to say, omit the lemon juice, but, please, NOT the zest.  

Tapping on the picture will enlarge, if your eyes are straining to read the fine print.

Prep ingredients, as above, and set aside.  I love the combination of lemon and rosemary, so I snapped off a healthy twig of it, plucked the leaves from the woody stems, bruised it a bit by rough chopping briefly, and tossed it into the warm pasta.  Basil, chives, or even mint, or a combination of any of these herbs, would work beautifully, as well.


Prepare whole grain pasta, according to package directions, tossing in the slivered sugar snap peas in the last few minutes of cooking time. Drain, then toss with remaining ingredients. Dress with reserved marinating oil, and lemon juice, if using. Add kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste.  And serve.  

Enjoy!

(and stay cool out there...)