Cooking - Summer Night Italian Dinner

(Listen to the playlist for the full experience)

We are all generally on good terms with summer nights. Summer nights are like the angel that gracefully descends onto your sweaty head after a long hot day. Summer nights are an excuse to party on a weekday. Summer nights make you want to dine al fresco just because you can. Summer nights usually involve good food, drinks, and good company. Summer nights make you feel like you can eat lots of ice cream and never get fat.

I threw in some home-grown cherry tomatoes I got from a colleague and they were amazing

On a random Tuesday night, I decided to cook some fun, SUPER EASY, Italian-inspired dishes for a romantic dinner on the patio. Thankfully there were no turkeys outside (refer to this post for the turkey story), so we could actually enjoy the dinner in peace.

I used whole wheat pasta to feel less guilty about the dessert..

I cannot stress enough how easy yet delicious these dishes are. The only thing you even need to use heat for is to cook the pasta noodles. In literally 15 minutes, we had this dinner on the table.

Italian wine is something I know absolutely nothing about. Hoping for better luck next time I choose an Italian white wine (suggestions welcomed in the comments).

To end the dinner, we made some affogato with local ice cream from Mission Hill Creamery and Nespresso. Never appreciated the Nespresso machine in the house 'til I discovered I can make affogato in 10 seconds.

Note to self: Get an ice cream scooper. But seriously, this affogato was amaaaazing. Perfect way to end the beautiful meal.

Watermelon Salad

Susie Song

Published 08/05/2015

Ingredients

  • 1/4 watermelon, cubed
  • Sunflower sprouts
  • Goat cheese, crumbled
  • Balsamic vinegar
  • Edible flowers for garnish (optional)

Instructions

  1. Spread the cubes of watermelon on a flat plate
  2. Toss a generous amount of sunflower sprouts on top of the watermelon
  3. Throw a generous amount of goat cheese crumbles
  4. Drizzle two tbsp of balsamic vinegar on the salad
  5. Garnish with edible flowers

Yield: 4 servings

Prep Time: 00 hrs. 05 mins.

Cook time: 00 hrs. 05 mins.

Total time: 10 mins.

Tags: watermelon, salad, summer, summer salad

Summer Pasta

Susie Song

Published 08/05/2015

Ingredients

  • 1/2 box of pasta noodles (linguine, spaghetti, thin spaghetti, etc.)
  • 2 tbsp minced garlic
  • Tomatoes (amount can be adjusted as desired; usually about 3-4), seeds removed
  • 10 large basil leaves, julienned
  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • Salt
  • Fresh ground black pepper
  • Parmesan cheese, grated
  • Extra basil leaves for garnish (optional)

Instructions

  1. Boil a pot of water, and cook the pasta noodles with salt
  2. In a large bowl, mix all other ingredients
  3. Drain the pasta and toss in the large bowl. Mix well
  4. Place the pasta on a plate, and top with a generous amount of parmesan cheese
  5. Garnish with small basil leaves (optional)

Yield: 4 servings

Prep Time: 00 hrs. 05 mins.

Cook time: 00 hrs. 10 mins.

Total time: 15 mins.

Tags: pasta, summer, summer pasta, italian