Thursday, July 9, 2009

Barefoot Bloggers: Pasta with Sundried Tomatoes

I was leery of this recipe. I am not a fan of olives. I find them extremely overwhelming and their flavor dominates everything. Like on pizza or olive bread. Yuck. I considered leaving the olives out. Especially since it has capers too. A couple capers are OK but I don't like a lot of brininess. If that's even a word. Blogger seems to think it's a word.

Anyway, I figured I would put the olives in just to try it. After all, that's the point right? To try stuff you wouldn't normally try and maybe find something new? Though I did cut them back. I used about a half of a 6 oz jar. And I chopped them really really finely. When you get just a tiny piece mixed in with the pasta and tomatoes and cheese it's not so bad. You don't really taste it. Just a subtle bit of salt and brine in the background. So I'm OK with the olives in this.

I only used half the mozzarella. That's what happens when you just skim recipes before grocery shopping. And I used 5 homegrown tomatoes. Because I had way too many from my tomato plant. A couple extra can't hurt. And I cut back the salt to 1 tsp. There was plenty of salt like that.

I was pleasantly surprised with this salad. It was good and well balanced. At first I thought it wasn't that appetizing because it's rather red/brown. Then I realized I forgot to add the basil and that made it much more balanced looking. You'd appreciate it more if I weren't lazy and cheap and bought a new card reader already.


This recipe was chosen by Cat of Delta Whiskey. You can find the recipe here.
Edit: Look I added a pic!

6 comments:

h2babe said...

I love olives, but I was leery about "another pasta dish". I was pleasantly surprised at how light but satisfying this dish was. My hubby and I definitely didn't think of this as a light dinner, but more as a side. Nice job!

Unknown said...

I think olives can be strong in a dish. I think in this pasta salad dish it all balanced out.

We loved this pasta salad and will be making it more often especially since summer is finally here.

Aggie said...

Glad you tried the olives! It fits right in with the rest of the flavors! :)

spike. said...

you are braver than I am, I left the olives out! Glad to hear you liked it

Leslie said...

Good for you for trying the olives and finding a way to appreciate what they contributed to the dish! I'm glad you liked it, and I agree it's a great starting point for what you have on hand.

kelly said...

Poor olives. They get such a bad rap. I can't seem to get enough of them! Thanks for stopping by and making me laugh. Knowing calorie content IS a bit like watching a car wreck....