The thing with wheat berries, tomatoes, and stuff in it

As most of these posts (with recipes) go, I don't really have exact methods or measurements. Just do what you think makes good sense, and the chances are good that you'll make something you like. And if you don't think you have good cooking sense, here's a quote for you: "Don’t wait for the confidence to do something. Do it without the confidence, and the confidence will come later."

A sidenote: That quote is post #73 out of what is now more than 500 posts on Tara Parker-Pope's New York Times contest. I sometimes don't like the fact that I know a lot of quotes now, because they may come off as cheesy to myself or others. But I do think many of them, when appropriate, are powerful because they sum up the wisdom of a whole period of life or a self-help book in memorable packages that you can keep in your pocket for when you need them. This contest on NYTimes has become a place I go to for those calming little packages. Check it out when you're having a day, as I know many of us are recently!

And now, back to the Thing and how to make it. I don't know what to call it. Suggestions?

- Soak 1 cup hard red winter wheat berries in 3.5 cups water overnight (or at least 6 hours) in a pot.

- Either cook 1/2 cup brown rice and cool down before using, or have 1.5 cups pre-refrigerated cooked brown rice.

- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Get 2 pints of cherry or grape tomatoes and cut the tomatoes in half top to bottom, and put them into a largish baking sheet or pan. (If you want to save some scrubbing later, line the baking sheet or pan with aluminum first.) Add enough olive oil to the pan that the oil runs to the sides of the pan, add plenty of salt, and then shake the pan to coat the tomatoes. Bake until your kitchen starts smelling like roasted tomatoes, and once they look a little burnt on the top, take them out, use a spatula to mix up and spread them back out, drizzle with more olive oil, and put it back in until a little burnt on the other side.

* A note about the tomatoes... the point of this is to create this delicious orangish tomato-oil mixed in with the roasted tomatoes. The roasting time depends on a lot of things - the pan, the oven, the amount of tomatoes, the amount of oil among them. Because I like my tomatoes on the charred side with darker oil, it takes around 40-50 minutes on a cookie sheet with plenty of oil in an properly-working oven at 375 degrees. But because burnt tomatoes aren't to everyone's taste, just do as you see fit, remembering that the tomato-oil is what you're looking to produce, and the roasted tomatoes are really tasty but only secondary. My oven doesn't work 75% of the time, so I broiled the tomatoes in my toaster oven for last Friday's potluck at Erin's and it worked just fine.

- Bring the wheat berries to a boil, turn down to a low simmer, then cover the pot and cook for about 45 minutes and try a few berries to make sure they're done (don't overcook). Drain the berries.

- In a large skillet, toast two handfuls of pine nuts until golden-brown. Add the berries, the brown rice, and the tomato-oil and tomatoes, and warm it all up. Add a splash of balsamic vinegar if you like. Taste for salt, and add pepper if you want. Don't be stingy with the salt; the tomato-oil needs it!

- While it's warming, clean and dry some basil leaves (for last Friday I used about 20 leaves because I had Thai basil and the leaves were small). Stack 7-8 at a time, roll them the long way into a cigar, and slice thinly crosswise so you get basil ribbons. If you're in a rush, rough-chopping works too. When the wheat berry mixture is warmed up, turn off the heat and mix in the basil, and serve. I imagine Parmesan would go great with this, too.

* This is an good dish to make ahead of time. If you're cooking earlier and serving later, rinse the wheat berries, after cooking and draining, with a little cold water to cool it down. Mix only the wheat berries, rice, and tomatoes/tomato-oil together and refrigerate. Before serving, toast the pine nuts in a large pot or pan, add the wheat berry mixture, and warm it up while cutting up basil.

Many thanks to ET for hosting the awesome party!

The roasted tomato with tomato-oil thing is something from a pasta recipe I made over and over in college, so much so that it became termed "frikkin' pasta" because, like this above dish, a descriptive name would be too long. It's really good though, so I'll post the recipe another time.