Browned Butter Dark Chocolate Marshmallow Muffins #FoodieExtravaganza

Browned butter is the star ingredient in this sweet muffin but the brown sugar, dark chocolate and marshmallows add just the right amount of bitter and sweet.

The first time I ever heard the words browned butter, I was in college.  My younger sister was dating a young man whose mother was born and raised in Germany. I don’t remember whether it was a special occasion or just a random meal, but afterwards my mother raved about the fresh green beans his mother had cooked with browned butter.  They were apparently to die for.

Now, my mother is given to food superlatives so I took that accolade with a little grain of sea salt and forgot all about it. Or would have if she hadn't mentioned it several more times over the decades.

Fast forward more than 30 years and browned butter is all over the place.  In savory dishes and sweet. One of my favorite bloggers, Kayle, The Cooking Actress, has recipe after recipe devoted to this wonderful ingredient. I have been dutifully bookmarking and drooling over them but had yet to take plunge. I discovered, with this muffin, that browned butter is indeed fabulous in baked goods, to die for even, and I am thinking green beans for dinner tonight, à la Mrs. Bosarge.  Why did I wait so long? Are you still waiting? Dive right in!

Fair warning:  Do NOT taste the batter.  It's possible that you will not bother to bake muffins and your family will find you sitting in the kitchen, possessively hugging the mixing bowl and clutching a spoon, preheated oven abandoned.  And then *queue dramatic music*:  You will have to share.

Ingredients
1/2 cup or 115g unsalted butter, browned then cooled – Instructions here.
1/4 cup or 60g granulated sugar
1/2 cup or 100g dark brown sugar
2 cups or 250g all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs
3/4 cup or 180ml milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 1/3 oz or 180g dark chocolate  (or equivalent amount of good quality dark chocolate chips)
1 cup or 50g mini marshmallows

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin pan by greasing lightly or lining with muffin papers.

Brown your butter, if you haven’t done so already.  Kayle has great instructions right here, so I refer you to her site.  Just follow this link:  How to brown butter.  

Chop the dark chocolate into little chunks and set aside a small handful for topping the muffins before baking.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together your flour, salt, two sugars and baking powder.

Whisk the cooled browned butter, eggs, vanilla extract and milk in a smaller mixing bowl.  If your milk and eggs are quite cold, the butter will probably try to solidify again.  Just keep whisking and it will break into little bitty pieces and get rather fluffy.  This is not a big deal.

Browned butter is liquid gold.  Except brown.

Pour your wet ingredients into your dry ones and stir a couple of times.

Add in the dark chocolate and marshmallows and fold to combine.

Divide the batter between the muffin cups and top with the reserved chocolate bits.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes or until the muffins are golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Allow the muffins to cool for a few minutes in the pan then remove them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

This recipe was muffin-fied from this fabulous cookie recipe from The Cooking Actress. 

Check out all the other lovely chocolate recipes my Foodie Extravaganza group is sharing today! Many thanks to our host, Ellen from Family Around the Table.

Brigadeiros by Caroline’s Cooking

Browned Butter Dark Chocolate Marshmallow Muffins by Food Lust People Love

Chocolate Dream Whoopie Pies by Jolene’s Recipe Journal

Chocolate Nonpareil Drops by Family Around the Table

Chocolate Tart with a Shortbread Crust by Karen’s Kitchen Stories

Double Chocolate Chip Banana Bread by Hardly A Goddess

Easy Homemade Chocolate Cupcakes by Our Good Life

German Chocolate Cake Macarons by A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures

Healthy Chocolate Truffles by Simple and Savory

Homemade Chocolate Praline Easter Eggs by Sneha’s Recipe

Homemade White Chocolate with Strawberries and Rose Petals by Tara’s Multicultural Table

Sachertorte by A Day in the Life on the Farm

Salted Juniper-Dark Chocolate Panna Cotta by Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Slow-Cooker Sweet Potato Chocolate Mole Soup by Faith, Hope, Love and Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice

Foodie Extravaganza celebrates obscure food holidays or shares recipes with the same ingredient or theme every month.

Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook group Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you!

If you're a reader looking for delicious recipes, check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board!

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Fresh Fish Soup

This fresh fish soup recipe makes a nutritious pot of deliciousness, perfect for a chilly winter night, but equally enjoyable on a summer evening because it is so light and flavorful. Best of all, it’s very easy to make.

As much as I love creamy soups, we tend to eat them mostly when it's cold outside. I love clear broth soups more because I can enjoy those all year long. In the summer, they cool you off in the same way that drinking a cup of hot tea does. You start to perspire a little bit, and a slight breeze cools you right off. And if you make soup like I make soup, there's going to be a little chili pepper added as well which has the same effect.

But in the winter time, the hot broth (with chili too, of course) warms you up from the inside out.

Fresh Fish Soup

This fresh fish soup recipe is inspired by one I saw either online or in a magazine but for the life of me, I can’t seem to find it again to give the creator credit.

Ingredients
5 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into chunks
3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
2 red chili peppers
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced
1 large ripe summer tomato, sliced
4 1/4 cups or 1 L homemade fish stock
1.1 lbs or 500g firm fish steaks, with bones (I used Kingfish but you can substitute any firm fish.)

For garnish:
green onion tops, chopped

Method
Layer the potatoes at the bottom of the pot. Split the chili peppers with a sharp knife. Tuck the crushed garlic, peppers and carrots in and around the potatoes. Add the sliced onions on top.

Top with the sliced tomato. Season with fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Pour in the fish stock.  Bring the pot to the boil, then turn it down to simmer and cover with a tight-fitting lid.

Season the fish steaks with sea salt and black pepper and set aside while the stock simmers for 30-40 minutes.

Add the fish steaks to the pot and cover again.

Simmer until the fish is cooked through.

Taste the soup and add more salt, if needed.

Serve in a shallow bowl with a sprinkling of chives or parsley, with crusty bread for dipping.

Enjoy!

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Slow Cooker Confit Pork Belly

Using a slow cooker makes it simple to cook pork belly that is succulent and tender. Finishing it off in the oven ensures that crunchy crackling we all fight over.

A couple of years ago, my mom and I were traveling together in France so we made a quick stopover in Jersey, one of the islands in the English Channel. At a pub lunch one day, I ordered the confit pork belly and we both swooned. I knew it was just a matter of time before I’d recreate that dish.

The first time I made it, I also added a bunch of peeled garlic cloves to the slow cooker about three quarters of the way through the cooking time and served them, all soft and mellow, alongside the pork. I also left the skin tender since I was trying to duplicate the dish we'd enjoyed at the pub. Divine!

The second time, I left out the garlic and served the confit pork belly with a spicy chutney I’d made from nectarines, kumquats and habanero peppers. And, I added the oven step to make the crackling crunchy. This became our favorite.

The spicy sweet and sharp chutney is the perfect accompaniment to the melt-in-your-mouth pork.

Slow Cooker Confit Pork Belly

Confit is a method of slow cooking meat in its own fat but in this recipe, I use canola oil instead of lard. The oil can be strained through a clean cloth and stored in the refrigerator in a sterilized jar, to be used to make this dish a second time.

Ingredients
1 lb 10 oz or 750g pork belly, skin on
Canola oil to cover (about 3-4 cups or 720-960ml)
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Method
If your butcher has not already done this, score the skin of the pork belly with a sharp knife. Rub it liberally with the salt on both sides. Set it in the refrigerator uncovered for a couple of hours or overnight.

Transfer the pork belly skin side up to your slow cooker and pour in enough canola oil to just cover it.

Set it to cook on low for four hours. Turn the pork belly over and cook for an additional two hours. Since the pork belly chuffs up while cooking, it won't be covered with oil any more.

Remove the pork belly from the slow cooker and place it on an ovenproof baking pan. Use the broil (US) or grill (UK) function in your oven to cook the skin till crunchy. Keep a close eye on it so that it doesn’t burn. This doesn't take long.

Sprinkle on a little more salt and a few good grinds of black pepper. Slice the confit pork belly to serve. I also recommend accompanying it with something sweet and spicy, like my nectarine kumquat habanero chutney.

Enjoy!

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Chorizo Shrimp Corn Chowder #FishFridayFoodies

Spicy smoky chorizo and succulent shrimp are the best addition to a creamy corn chowder. Warm yourself up with a steaming bowl of chorizo shrimp corn chowder tonight.

Several years ago, I made a recipe from a friend and fellow blogger that had us ooo-ing and ah-ing. I saved the link and the instructions because I knew I’d want to make it again. But, of course, time and new recipes to try got in the way of that happening.

That delicious recipe came to mind again when I saw that the theme for this month’s Fish Friday Foodies was Out of the Shell and into the Pan. It was time to peel some shrimp! I switched out the bacon for some spicy smoky Spanish chorizo and used frozen corn instead of fresh. Oh, and I added cayenne because we really do like things spicy. But otherwise, this is very much like Susan made it originally.

Chorizo Shrimp Corn Chowder

Packed with flavor, this warming bowl of goodness is just the sort of comfort food we all need in chilly January.

Ingredients
8 1/2 oz or 240g hot and smoky chorizo, skin removed, diced
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 small green bell pepper, diced
1 large potato
2 garlic cloves, minced
5 1/4 cups or 740g fresh or frozen corn kernels
3 cups or 720ml chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
a few good grinds black pepper
1/4-1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne
12 1/4 oz or 347g jumbo shrimp (weight after peeling and deveining)
1 cup or 240ml whole milk

Method
In a Dutch oven or another thick-bottomed pot, cook your chorizo pieces over a medium heat, stirring often, until they are a little bit crunchy. They will release some gorgeous red oil. Tip in the chopped onion and bell pepper and lower the heat a little.

Sauté until the onion is translucent and the pepper has softened, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, peel and cube your potato and cover it with cool water in a small bowl, so it doesn’t turn brown.

Add the garlic to the pot and cook for a minute or so, then drain the water off of the potato and add it to the pot as well, stirring well.

Add the corn kernels to the mixture in the Dutch oven, then pour in the chicken stock. Season with the salt, black pepper and cayenne.

Bring the whole pot to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer with the lid on for about 25 minutes. Remove the pot from the stove and allow to cool for a few minutes, uncovered.

Use a slotted spoon to remove about 2 cups of vegetables and chorizo from the pot.

Blend the rest using a hand blender or in batches in your blender.

Add the shrimp to the pot and put it back on the stove over a low heat. Cook for a few minutes or just until the shrimp are pink.

Add the removed vegetables back to the pot, the pour in the milk and stir well.

Heat through again. Taste the chowder and add more salt, black pepper and cayenne, if necessary.

Serve in bowls, making sure that each person gets a few of the shrimp. Garnish with some parsley or cilantro, if desired. Some toasted crusty bread for dipping is also a fine idea.

Enjoy!

Check out the other shellfish dishes we are sharing today. Many thanks to our host, Camilla of Camilla’s Cooking Adventures for this great theme.

An InLinkz Link-up

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Double Soda Pretzels #BreadBakers

Soda bread dough, dipped in baked-baking-soda water, turns into the most delightful (and easy!) treats I’m naming double soda pretzels. Brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with salt before baking, they are a warm, wonderful snack.

This month my Bread Baker friends are all making pretzels to share with you and it's my turn to host. We have an amazing line up of recipes, some quite traditional, some with twists on the classic method. Make sure to scroll down to the bottom and check out the list.

Every challenge like this one always requires some research on my part. I know that the original German pretzels call for a dip in a water bath with lye. But when one cannot source lye (or is scared to work with it) there are alternatives. The first time I made pretzels for a blog post in this space, I chose to stuff the pretzels with cheese. Definitely not traditional but that did give me the chewiness I was looking for.

This time my research led me down a different path to getting the color and chew without lye or cheese. The great and knowledgeable food scientist expert Harold McGee wrote an New York Times article back in 2010 recommending that pretzel bakers raise the alkalinity of baking soda by baking it before dissolving it in the water bath. It’s not the same strength as lye would be, but it gets closer.

And because it is damn cold where I am right now, I also decided to make a soda bread dough rather than trying to get a yeast dough to rise. But can a quick dough be as good as a yeast dough for pretzels?

The verdict: Yes, it can! This recipe/method turns out chewy pretzels with great flavor. I don’t think I’ll ever make them with a yeast dough again!

Double Soda Pretzels

I brought a couple of these double soda pretzels over to my neighbors and they earned two thumbs up. If you are not a fan of working with yeast, do give my soda bread version a try.

Ingredients
For the water bath:
2/3 cup or 185g baking soda
5 cups or ml water

For the pretzel dough:
1 cup or 240ml milk
2 teaspoons white vinegar
3 1/4 cups or 406g all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling out
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 cup or 60ml honey

For baking:
1/4 cup or 57g butter, melted
1-2 tablespoons flakey sea salt, for topping

Method
Preheat your oven to 250°F or 121°C and line a baking pan with aluminum foil. Sprinkle the baking powder for the water bath on to the foil and bake for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and tip into a large non-aluminum stock pot with 5 cups or 1.2L water.

Bring it to the boil and then remove from the heat and put a lid on the pot.

Pour the 1 cup or 240ml milk into a 2-cup measuring vessel and add the vinegar to it. Set aside.

Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C and grease two (preferably non-stick) baking pans or use silicone liners.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together your flour, baking soda and salt. Add the honey to the milk mixture and whisk till it is dissolved in the milk.

Add the milk and honey to the bowl of dry ingredients and mix until it has formed a dough.

Turn it out on a lightly floured surface. Knead it a few turns and form it in a smooth ball.

Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. (If you are a scale user, know that mine weighed about 95g each.)

Use a little sprinkled flour and roll them like sausages until they are about 12 to 14 inches or cm long.

Form into pretzel shapes.

Overlap

Overlap again

Flip the twist up and pinch the ends down so they stick

Use a spatula to transfer them one or two at a time to the warm soda water bath for 30 seconds.

Remove them from the bath and transfer to a baking pan. Continue until all the pretzels have had 30 seconds in the soda water bath.

Brush with melted butter and sprinkle on some flakey sea salt.

Do not use parchment paper under your pretzels. Even if it is buttered, your pretzels will stick. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the double soda pretzels are lovely and brown. When they come out of the oven, you can brush them with more butter, if desired.

Enjoy!

Check out all of the lovely pretzels we are sharing today! What a fabulous start to the new year.

• Authentic German Pretzels from Sara's Tasty Buds
• Ballpark Pretzels from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Beer Pretzels from Passion Kneaded
• Buttery Pretzels from Ambrosia
• Cheddar Garlic Soft Pretzels from Palatable Pastime
• Cheese Jalapeño Stuffed Pretzel Rolls from Herbivore Cucina
• Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel Bites from Cook's Hideout
• Cinnamon Sugar Soft Pretzels from Hostess At Heart
• Double Soda Pretzels from Food Lust People Love
• German Pretzel Rolls from All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Honey Mustard Snack Pretzels from Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Pretzel Dogs from Sneha's Recipe
• Pretzel Sticks from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Saffron Pretzel Rolls from The Schizo Chef
• Soft Whole Wheat Pretzels from What Smells So Good?
• Sourdough Soft Pretzels from Baking Sense
• Whole Wheat Pretzel Bites from I camp in my kitchen

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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Hot Smoked Salmon Choux Bites #BakingBloggers

Airy and light, choux buns can be stuffed with either sweet or savory fillings. My hot smoked salmon choux bites have a rich, flavorful filling that perfectly complements the fluffy buns. Serve these at your next gathering and watch them disappear.

Choux pastry often shows up in patisseries or bakeries in fancy shapes like eclairs or choux swans filled with sweetened custards or whipped cream so most folks imagine it must be hard to make. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, although I used to beat the requisite eggs into the dough by hand, I have discovered that it can be done in my stand mixer. Now choux is even faster and easier than ever to make.

One of the things I like best about choux pastry is that it lends itself equally well to sweet desserts, like my lemon raspberry croquembouche or savory appetizers, like these hot smoked salmon choux bites. And, another bonus, it is made with ingredients most people almost invariably have on hand. Water, flour, butter and eggs. And just a little of those four go a long way!

This month my fellow Baking Bloggers are sharing our favorite choux pastry recipes. If you’ve been nervous about giving it a try, perhaps we can convince you that it really is easy.

Hot Smoked Salmon Choux Bites

These tasty hot smoked salmon choux bites are a great make-ahead appetizer. Bake your choux buns and make your filling, just fill and serve at party time. Makes about 24-30.

Ingredients
For the choux pastry:
1/4 cup or 50g butter
1/2 cup or 120ml water
1/2 cup or 65g plain flour
1 pinch salt
2 eggs, at room temperature

For the hot smoked salmon filling:
7 ounces or 200g smoked salmon (Mine was hot smoked so it looks more "cooked" than cold smoked salmon. But you can use either.)
5 oz or about 145g cream cheese, at room temperature
3 1/2 oz or 100g Boursin garlic and fine herb soft cheese or an equivalent
2-3 green onion tops, chopped
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup or 80ml heavy cream

Optional for decorating: Maille mustard with fine herbs or tarragon.
I used the mustard with tarragon, which was quite delicious because salmon and mustard do go nicely together, especially with a hot smoked salmon filling as rich as this one. But I must confess that I bought it initially just because of the color. Perhaps you will be lucky enough to find it where you live.

Method
Preheat your oven to 445°F or 230°C and prepare your baking sheet by lining it with baking parchment stuck down with a little non-stick spray.

Tip: Make your life easier by using a bottle top or some other round object as a template to draw circles on the bottom of your parchment paper. Turn the parchment over and use the pencil circles as a guide for piping your choux pastry. You want 1 inch or 2.5cm circles about an equal measure apart on the parchment. I've included the bottle cap I used in the photos so you can see how small the choux buns started out and how much they puffed up when baked. (I did not bake the cap!)

To make your choux pastry buns, sift together your flour and a pinch of salt and put it right next to the stove in readiness.

In a medium pot, combine the butter and water and bring to the boil. Pour the flour/salt mixture into the boiling water/butter all at once.

Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture forms a ball and pulls right away from the sides. This takes just a minute or two. Now take the pot off of the stove and tip the mixture into your stand mixer.

(This can also be done the traditional way, by hand with a wooden spoon. Check out my croquembouche recipe to see how that's done.) Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well. It looks like the egg won’t mix in and the dough starts to fall apart but keep mixing and after a little beating, the dough comes together again and it’s time to add the second egg.

After that egg has been incorporated into the dough, put the dough by spoonfuls into a piping bag with a large tip.

Pipe the soft dough on the parchment paper in 1 inch or 2.5cm circles about an equal measure apart from each other, using your circles as a guide, if you followed the tip above. Poke down any pointy tops with a damp finger.

Bake the choux in your preheated oven for 10 minutes then turn the temperature down to 350°F or 180°C and bake for a further 25-30 minutes or until golden.

Remove from the oven and poke a hole in one side of each choux bun with a toothpick. This allows the steam to escape and helps the choux bun keep its shape as it cools. Cool completely on a wire rack.

While the choux buns are baking, you can make your hot smoked salmon filling. Use a fork to flake the fish, discarding any bones that might have been missed when it was filleted.

In a bowl, mix together your filling ingredients up to the cream. Add and mix in cream a couple of tablespoons at a time, until you get a nice consistency to your filling, not too soft but definitely spoon-able. You may not use all of the cream. Or if your salmon was on the dry side, you might want a little more.

If you aren’t serving the hot smoked salmon choux bites immediately, store the filling covered with cling film in the refrigerator and, once the choux buns are completely cooled, store them in an airtight container.

When you are ready to serve, cut the choux buns in half and fill with a good spoon of the chilled hot smoked salmon filling.

Put the top of the choux bun back on. Decorate by piping on some herby mustard, if desired.

You may have noticed that I made so many more than are in the photographs. That’s because I took some to a dinner party and filled them there. The rest? I ate them. So good!

Enjoy!

Many thanks to one of our fearless leaders and this month’s host, Sue of Palatable Pastime. Check out all the choux pastry recipes!

• Boston Cream Puffs by Cookaholic Wife
• Burnt Caramel Croquembouche by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Cannoli Cream Puffs by The RedHead Baker
• Cream Puffs with Ice Cream and Chocolate by Sneha’s Recipe
• Double Chocolate Cream Puffs by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
• Gougères - French Cheese Puffs by Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Ham Salad Pate a Choux by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Hot Smoked Salmon Choux Bites by Food Lust People Love
• Strawberry Cream Puffs by Palatable Pastime

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Hearty Lentil Tomato Sauce (for pasta)

If you are looking for a flavorful, rich vegetarian alternative to traditional Bolognese sauce made with ground beef, here you go! My hearty lentil tomato sauce is absolutely delicious, healthy and filling. Perfect for a cold winter’s night when comfort food is required.

Years ago both of our girls were vegetarian, and even now, the younger one eats mostly vegetarian when she’s not at home. During that time, I started exploring vegetarian recipes and figuring out how to recreate some of our family favorites without meat. Taste was of the utmost importance but I also wanted to add protein, to make up for the lack of meat.

Lentils are one of the best pulses or legumes for this. They don’t require soaking. They cook up quickly and are great at taking on whatever flavors are added to them. Their only downside, especially if you use the green Puy lentils, is the color. If you can overlook that, lentils are a vegetarian’s best friend.

Tip: This hearty lentil tomato sauce freezes beautifully so it’s worth doubling the recipe and freezing half in a sealed freezer bag for another family meal.

Hearty Lentil Tomato Sauce

Whether you just do “meatless Monday” or eat vegetarian all the time, you will want to add hearty lentil tomato sauce to your family meal plan. This will easily feed four hungry people when served on top of pasta.

Ingredients
1 cup or 200g dried Puy lentils
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
3-4 ripe large tomatoes (about 1 lb or 450g)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Sea salt and black pepper - to taste
handful basil and parsley chopped plus extra to garnish
1 tomato, deseeded and chopped
2 handfuls sliced black olives, optional - we love 'em but I know some people don't.    Use more, less or none, according to your taste

To serve: your favorite pasta, cooked to package instructions

Method
Rinse the lentils, picking through them to make sure there aren’t any little rocks, and set aside to drain.

Sauté the chopped onions and garlic in the olive oil till softened. Add in the chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, bay leaf and baking soda. Stir well.

Cook over a medium heat for just a few minutes, then add in the rinsed lentils, plus 2 cups or 480ml water along with the smoked paprika and crushed red pepper flakes.

Bring the pot to a gentle boil then turn the fire down to simmer. Cook, covered for about 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add more water, if necessary.

When the lentils are cooked, stir in the chopped basil and parsley and a handful of the sliced black olives, if using. Also, add half of the extra chopped tomato. I took the photo before the tomato half went in, but don't forget to add it. A little uncooked tomato brightens up the flavor.

Garnish with the other half of the tomato, more herbs and more black olive slices, if desired. Serve over your favorite cooked pasta.

Enjoy!

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