A walk down memory lane…

Pasta with heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil and balsamic vinegar

So, as everyone knows, I am graduating from college in five days. This means that I have spent the majority of the last last 16 years of my life sitting in class. It also means that I have been cooking for four years now.

I was going through old Facebook albums the other day and stumbled across the first thing I ever cooked for myself. Pasta with heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil and balsamic vinegar. It’s only fitting that I make this the last meal I will ever cook as a college student.

Ask me why I have not made this dish once this year and I will not be able to give you an answer. It is quite possibly the greatest taste for the minimal amount of work (optimization– thank you Jeff Farrar). And it’s healthy.

This recipe calls for:

• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped garlic
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 3-4 pounds Heirloom tomatoes
• 1 cup fresh basil , julienned
• 8 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
• 12 ounces pasta

So first mix the garlic, salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Then wash and chop the tomatoes and put them in a medium-sized mixing bowl. I threw a little extra garlic in on the bottom. Just because.

Julienne the basil and add that to the bowl also. If any of you were wondering, this is what Lauren’s julienned basil looked like. By the way, she was just selected to be the Greek Week PR Chair for 2011. Congratulations, Poodle!

Then cut the mozzarella into 1/4 inch chunks. Add that in to the mix, too.

Pour in the vinegar mixture and toss well.

Here’s what it looked like when I first made it back in 2006! I remember a couple of problems I had that day. One problem was that I didn’t know how to cook pasta (seriously?) and the pieces were still a little crunchy and stuck together. I also was really, really worried about measurements back then. I didn’t understand how I was supposed to weigh out 8 oz. of mozzarella because it didn’t come in that weight at the store. Poor me.