Fall... into Philly

Yikes, it's been so long since I've written anything. So much has happened in the past few months. Started fourth year of medical school (YAY the end is near), took and thankfully passed Step 2 CK and CS of the medical licensing exams, and then began my year long hiatus from med school, my year off postponing graduation yet one year longer. And for that, to Philly I came. I will have to post (hopefully soon) at another time a more detailed story of the journey... which was a busy and crazy week of test taking (step 2), 30 hours of packing and loading my life for the past 3 years into a truck, and driving 10 hours to my final destination, Center City, Philadelphia.

But for now, let me share a delicious meal I had today, at minimal cost! It is a beautiful fall day here in Philly today, and after coming home from church I wanted nothing more than a satisfying, refreshing hot lunch. I wasn't in the mood for leftovers, but I didn't want to wait long, so I ended up making an easy no-cook sauce to go with pasta. The recipe, taken from Cooks Illustrated and this food blog that I read, is so easy and so tasty! If there's a farmer's market near you and has good tomatoes, this is a perfect dish to use them in. I happened to have some cherry tomatoes from the market that I needed to use up before going out of town for a week, so I halved those and used them for this. I also didn't have any more scallions at home to add, so I left them out. There is something so wonderful about enjoying delicious food made from only a few simple ingredients!

Pasta with No-Cook Tomato Sauce and Fresh Mozzarella (from Cooks Illustrated)
salt
1 pound pasta (a short, curly type is best)
1½ pounds ripe tomatoes, cored, seeded, and cut into ½-inch dice
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil - I don't use this much though. Actually I didn't even measure any of this stuff out - with ingredients and a recipe so simple I often don't really think about proportions, I just do it by look and taste!
1 medium garlic clove, minced or pressed through a garlic press
3 medium scallions, sliced thin
ground black pepper
8 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into ½-inch cubes
1. Bring 4 quarts water to a rolling boil in a large pot. Add 1 tablespoon salt and the pasta to the boiling water, stir to separate the noodles, and cook until al dente. Drain and return the pasta to the pot.
2. While the pasta is cooking, prepare the sauce. Combine the tomatoes, oil, garlic, scallions, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper in a medium bowl. Add the tomato mixture and mozzarella to the pasta in the pot and toss to combine. Adjust the seasonings with salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately.

Here's my take at it: