steamed cod with ginger and scallions, shaved carrot salad with scallions and sesame seeds and heirloom tomato salad

Friday morning I picked up some heirloom tomatoes at Whitty Farms hoping to make a simple salad similar to this one I blogged about a couple weeks ago. Every time we visit El Gastronomo Vagabundo they offer beautiful heirloom tomato salads which really are my favourite part of their menus. What are the chances that only hours after buying my heirloom assortment I stumble upon some of El Gastro's recipes online? So I decided to make their Heirloom Tomato Salad found here.

Beautiful isn't it?! Tastes fantastic but nothing as great as the real thing at the El Gastronomo Vagabundo cart. I could live on these salads, I'm thinking my personal challenge next year should be to start an heirloom tomato garden. Too bad I absolutely no facility for outdoor gardening.

This salad filled out the rest of our Everyday Food dinner of Steamed Cod with Ginger and Scallions and Shaved Carrot Salad with Scallions and Sesame Seeds.

The Shaved Carrot Salad was quite good, but you really feel as though your eating 'healthy' while eating it. That can be a good or bad thing depending on your mood. I say Friday night isn't the night to enjoy light food.

Then there was the cod. I was willing to give this one a fair shot and expected something great like the Red Snapper recipe from last week. Boy, was I wrong. This was bacala-yuck!!! I think if I ever feel the need to interject cod fish into my life in the future I'll be making either Nuno's mom's or El Gastro's Codfish Croquettes (recipe for the later can also be found here).

heirloom tomato salad and zucchini noodles with pesto

There are some things in marriage that are not mutually appreciated. When it comes to food, Nuno and I are very aligned. We didn't come into our relationship that way, me who enjoyed tri-colour rotini with Italian salad dressing and Nuno with lean skirt steaks pan-fried in oil. We both realized we didn't eat well, so we learned to cook and along with that have a very mutual appreciation for food and each other's cooking. And we really don't exclude any type of food other than poorly prepared. But there are some things that one of us enjoys just a little more than the other. One thing Nuno doesn't share the same sort of passion for is a daily dose of toasted tomato sandwiches. You mean you don't enjoy eating the same thing on a daily basis?

Nuno's out of town for a couple days leaving me to my vices! I decided to pay a visit to Pelham Farmer's Market this past Thursday. Mostly in search of some heirloom tomatoes. I was totally thrilled to come upon a beautiful assortment. Some of the types included in this selection are Mrs. Bots, Golden Queen, Maruel Striped Orange, Green Zebra, Black Zebra, Marmande, Stupice.

I was so precious about this entire assortment. I handled them gingerly the same way as Owen in the first week of life. And they produced the most pleasurable tomato experience, I can only second it to the tomato salad from the previous weekend.

Salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil and some thyme on hand. I'll admit it, this whole salad was for just me! I wanted to try other seasoning, but I'm so in love with thyme in this combo, I'll be leaving the predictable basil for my toasted tomato sandwiches. I'll have to keep my eye out for heirlooms because I think I might just be able to convert Nuno to the other side with this one!

The other thing that Nuno does not share the same appreciation I have is for pasta with pesto. This is my quick single go-to meal. Where most people crack open a box of Kraft Dinner, I just grab a couple frozen blocks of homemade pesto and cook pasta. I then remembered 'A Homemade Life' had a recipe for Zucchini Noodles with Pesto. I quickly read the recipe and realized that I could dress up this quick meal with zucchini from Tina's!

Well played Molly, well played! This is a very good recipe. First the banana bread was killer and now this one. It was even appropriate for Owen as well. I blitzed this assembled pasta dish along with some chicken thigh and he loved it. So maybe Owen has inherited his mom's taste buds.