Breaking Out Pasta Salad

Summer is coming, restrictions are being lifted, let's get ready! A summer picnic, potluck, or barbecue, can hinge on a great pasta salad. So let's create a new one. We'll go over basics then let imaginations go play. This one is packed with a colorful mix of veggies, meat, homemade dressing, and cold pastas.

We start with an interesting pasta that will hold the dressing. Chop up some cheese sausages, red onion,tomatoes, cucumbers, and some cubed cheddar. A different take on the classic dressing to give it life and there is you own fabulous salad.

For the Salad

8 ounces whole wheat rotini

¼ medium red onion, finely chopped (about ¼ cup)

4 cucumbers peeled and chopped

4 roma tomatoes chopped

“Beddar Cheddar” sausages cut into ½ inch cubes

½ cup cubed cheese

¼ cup bread & butter pickles chopped, optional

Dressing:

½ cup mayonnaise

2 TBS hoisin sauce

1 tsp yellow mustard, substitute Dijon or whole grain mustard

½ tsp lemon juice

½ tsp salt, plus more to taste

¼ tsp black pepper, plus more to taste

1 to 2 TBS honey, optional for sweet version

Directions

Cook pasta according to the package directions. Don’t overcook the pasta. Use the directions as a guide, but a minute or two before it should be done, test it. If done, drain the pasta and move on.

Rinse the cooked pasta under cold water. By removing the starches, the salad won’t turn sticky or clump as much. NOTE this is different than if you were cooking a typical pasta dish. There, you want those starches to thicken the sauce and to suck it into the pasta.

While this cooks, do your cutting. Chop the tomatoes, peel and chop the cucumbers. Chop the red onion and place in a small bowl, cover with cold water. Set aside for 5 minutes and then drain. This “de-flames” the onion ensuring that it won’t taste too strong in the salad.

Cut up the sausages and the cheese cubes.

In a small bowl mix the mayonnaise, Hoisin sauce, mustard, and lemon juice. Season with salt & pepper to taste.

In a large bowl, add the rinsed, cool, macaroni, drained onions, cubed cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes. Mix well. Stir in the chopped sausages.

If this is for a picnic or to serve hours latter, do not mix in the dressing until ready to serve. Cover the pasta, meat, and vegetables with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Do the same with the dressing.

Add honey if you want a sweeter salad.

For more of a vegetable-packed salad, consider stirring in peas, corn, cauliflower or broccoli.

Keep the pasta salad, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Tonight it was served with fish and oven roasted asparagus. What a wonderful way to celebrate getting together again!

For our music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUPdG4DA42g Fly Robin Fly

We made it through a tough time, let's finish this well!

socialslave

To satisfy and restore.

To nourish, support and maintain.

To gratify, spoil, comfort and please,

to nurture, assist, and sustain

…..I cook!

Please buy slave's cookbook:

The Little Black Book of Indiscreet Recipes by Dan White

 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F315Y4I/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_vAT4sb0934RTM via @amazon

 

Carry Along Ham & Cheese

Summer is coming, restrictions are being lifted, life may be returning. Plan a get together to celebrate! Here is a back yard, summer time, walk about sandwich that is perfect for guests. Turn it into a fun picnic. Most of all use this recipe to build on with your favorite sandwich tastes and tricks. Make it your own!

This use of a store bought tortilla shows a way to enjoy a wrap with a strategically placed cut that allows you to fold the tortilla in on itself to create three layers of fillings, making for easy eating and less filling ‘spillage’. No one cares what you call it. Try it and have fun again!

Ingredients:

6 -8 ready made tortillas (keep them warm and supple)

½ lbs deli ham

2 roma tomatoes chopped and drained

2 cucumbers peeled and chopped and drained

1/3 cup mayonnaise (reduced-fat)

½ tsp garlic powder

½ cup grated cheddar cheese

Directions:

Do your cutting first and have toppings ready to assemble.

Fold paper towels into 1/4^th and place in two bowls. Chop and drain the tomatoes into one and cucumbers into the other, sprinkle both with salt. This drains out most of the liquid.

Warm the tortillas. Place a warm damp paper towel on them to keep them fresh and supple.

For the carrot salad: place the dried cranberries into ¼ cup spiced rum to plump.

In a bowl place the tomatoes and cucumbers with the mayo and garlic powder, mix well.

Put out your cutting board with tortilla in the center and the toppings around the top within easy reach.

 

Picture the tortilla as if it were a clock face. Make a cut from the very center to the 3 o'clock position.

 

Now imagine the four areas for your toppings.

3 – 6: blank

6 – 9: the vegetables

9 – 12 the ham

12 – 3 the cheese

With a brush LIGHTLY brush the whole tortilla with mayo. This will help to hold things together.

In the 6 – 9 corner, place 1 – 2 Tbs of tomato/cucumber mix Don't use too much.

Pile a little bit of the deli ham on the 9 – 12 quarter.

Sprinkle cheese on the 12 – 3 quarter.

 

Swing the 3 – 6 quarter over the vegetables. 

 

Fold this flap up over the ham.

 

Fold this to the side over the cheese. This holds it together while you make the other sandwiches.

Heat skillet for browning the assembled sandwiches. If you have a pan with ridges to leave grill marks, that would be impressive but not necessary.

Or a “George Foreman” type grill, Hell if you want, dig out that waffle iron you never use! Just remember do not squish the sandwiches together or the fillings will come out and make a big mess to clean up.

Basically, you just want to heat up the cheese to melt. Maybe warm up the ham but not to cook the tomatoes and cucumbers.

Now to make this for our back yard extravaganza. Lets prepare ahead of time and bake some beans and fix a fresh idea for carrot salad!

Don't Carrot All Salad

Not yo mama's salad!

Ingredients

• 2 cups freshly grated carrots (from 4 to 6 medium-sized carrots)

• ½ cup craisins (dried cranberries)

• ½ can pineapple tidbits, drained

1 container pina colada yogurt

• ¼ cup spiced rum

Directions:

In a small bowl soak the dried cranberries in the spiced rum for half an hour.

In a larger bowl mix the grated carrots and the pineapple tidbits while the craisins re-plump.

Spoon out the berries and mix into the pina colada yogurt. Mix this dressing into the carrot-pineapple mixture and cover with plastic wrap until ready to serve.

As my favorite Bravo TV Capt Lee would say: “Thems that die are the lucky ones!”

You can fix and bake the baked beans that day or the day before and serve cold if you wish.

For today's meal I drained the can of baked beans. Cut up some cheddar sausages and stirred in a bit of mustard and maple syrup. Bake this in a 350 degree oven for about an hour until no longer soupy!

What a fancy paper plate of goodness for my Master's guests!

For our music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIiVp3poe2c

Party outside! Or inside!

socialslave

To satisfy and restore.

To nourish, support and maintain.

To gratify, spoil, comfort and please,

to nurture, assist, and sustain

…..I cook!

Please buy slave's cookbook:

The Little Black Book of Indiscreet Recipes by Dan White

 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F315Y4I/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_vAT4sb0934RTM via @amazon

Cruisin' Hoisin Thighs

 I was going to get some oyster sauce and grabbed the wrong bottle. I found Hoisin sauce instead. Never cooked with it so I gave it a try. Kinda like a sweet & sour with much more umami taste. This recipe is stupid easy, inexpensive, and praise worthy!

Cheap, small, bone-less, and skinless chicken thighs, a can of tropical fruit salad and a bottle of this unique sauce makes a fantastic meal.

Ingredients

½ cup hoisin sauce

½ tsp pumpkin pie spice

½ tsp garlic powder

½ tsp sesame oil

1 TBS soy sauce

6 chicken thighs

1 can tropical fruit salad with natural juice

Directions:

Mix together sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic powder and pumpkin pie spice in a bowl. Drain the fruit salad into this and stir it well.

Place the chicken thighs in a dish and cover with the sauce.

Marinade the chicken for about 2 - 5 hours. The longer the better.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

 

Line a baking pan with foil and spray a rack on top

When ready to cook make sure chicken is coated and arrange thighs in 1 layer without crowding.

Roast in upper third of oven until chicken is cooked through and glaze is brown,

35 – 40 minutes.

Check with thermometer. Should read over 170 for dark meat. Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes while you fix a vegetable and rice.

Heat the marinade to a boil and remove to serve as a sauce.

Would also go great with angel hair pasta.

Slave decided to serve this with a long grain and wild rice and a side of roasted mixed spring vegetables.

HEAVEN!

Chicken so juicy and tangy but not too spicy. You can add spice if you wish.

For our music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZr8iReEqMQ Mr Bassman

So excited to fix this great meal out of a mistake at the store.

socialslave

To satisfy and restore.

To nourish, support and maintain.

To gratify, spoil, comfort and please,

to nurture, assist, and sustain

…..I cook!

Please buy slave's cookbook:

The Little Black Book of Indiscreet Recipes by Dan White 

 

 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F315Y4I/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_vAT4sb0934RTM via @amazon

Easy Salmon En Croûte

This recipe features a fillet of salmon that’s brushed with a mixture of melted butter, lemon, and mustard, then placed on a bed of garlicky sautéed spinach. The salmon and spinach are then wrapped up in puff pastry like a present, then baked until the pastry is deeply golden, and the fish is moist and tender.

Once wrapped in pastry, the salmon stays incredibly moist, and it soaks up all the rich, buttery flavors. You’ll want to use skinless salmon for this recipe. If the salmon is sold skin-on, the seafood counter can usually remove it for you.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

• ½ tablespoon mustard

• ¼ tsp lemon juice

• ¾ teaspoon kosher salt divided

• ½ teaspoon black pepper divided

• 1 pkg frozen chopped spinach

• 2 cloves garlic minced

• ½ pkg softened cream cheese cut into small pieces

• 1 large egg

• 1 tube of crescent rolls – if you can get the non-perforated kind that's best

• 2, 6oz. salmon fillets skin removed

Melt the butter in a small bowl or saucepan. Stir in the Dijon, lemon juice, salt & pepper. Set aside.

Cook the spinach in the microwave according to box. But stop it halfway through. Stir in the garlic and pieces of cream cheese. Finish cooking. Stir well and let cool.

Place a rack in the center of your oven while you pre heat to 400 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Leave the salmon in the refrigerator.

In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg. Set aside.

Unroll the pastry on a sheet of wax paper. With a table knife, cut the two halves apart.

 

Place 3 Tbs of the spinach mixture in the middle of each half pastry.

Remove the salmon fillets from the refrigerator and place on a plate. Brush the tops of the fillets liberally with the butter mixture.

 

  Place each fillet, butter side down, on each pile of spinach.

Brush pastry all around the fish with the beaten egg.

Fold pastry over the top of the fillet like a flap, so that it partially covers it, then brush the top of the flap with egg wash. Fold the other side up, adhering it to the first. (the egg wash should act as a “glue”), close in the ends and seal with more egg wash.

As long as it’s sealed and covers the salmon, you’re set. Carefully flip the salmon over and transfer it to the prepared baking sheet, with the folded side underneath. Repeat with the second fillet.

Brush the tops of the pastry with egg wash, then with a sharp knife, score shallow, diagonal lines in each direction in a crosshatch pattern.

Bake the salmon for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the pastry turns golden brown. Let cool a few minutes on the baking sheet. Serve hot.

Our music tonight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe_1B1P9Bw4 les bicyclettes de belsize

What a fantastic meal for my Master! Paired with scalloped potatoes and a roasted asperagus.

socialslave

To satisfy and restore.

To nourish, support and maintain.

To gratify, spoil, comfort and please,

to nurture, assist, and sustain

…..I cook!

Please buy slave's cookbook:

The Little Black Book of Indiscreet Recipes by Dan White 

 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F315Y4I/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_vAT4sb0934RTM via @amazon

                               

You could replace the spinach mixture with store-bought spinach dip, and use larger piece of fish wrapped up & cooked, then cut to serve.

To Make Ahead and Freeze*.

*Do not freeze the cooked salmon Wellington; however, you can freeze it before it is baked.

Prepare as directed through the point of scoring the top, but do not add the egg wash on top. Place it on a baking sheet in the freezer until solid. Then, store in an airtight freezer-safe storage container in the freezer for up to 3 months.

When you’re ready to prepare it, let it set at room temperature for about 20 minutes (enough for the pastry to soften up a bit), then add the egg wash, score, and bake. You’ll need to add 15 to 20 minutes to the cooking time.

To Reheat the already Baked Salmon Wellington. Let the salmon come to near room temperature, then reheat it in the oven at 375 degrees F for about 10 to 15 minutes, until warmed through. You can rewarm this dish in the microwave in a pinch, but it’s likely the pastry will become soggy and the fish will dry out; the oven will yield much better results.

Tuscan Pork Pasta Bake

 This surprising one dish dinner is perfect for these rainy spring days. It combines Tuscan flavors with some Chinese cooking techniques that are sure to impress.

First the pork is “velveted”, then the spinach is well cooked. These are the secrets to making this dish irresistible even to die hard spinach haters. With mushrooms and cream cheese to complete this wonderful casserole, you will be proclaimed a cooking genius.

Ingredients:

½ cup red onion, chopped

1 cup mushrooms, rinsed and quartered

½ pkg cream cheese cubed into ½ inch pieces

1 cup cheese, grated

1 pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

2 lb. lean pork cut into thin strips

½ cup Cornstarch

2 TBS soy sauce

1 Tbs sesame oil

1 egg white

Directions:

Pat the meat dry using clean paper towels. Slice your meat as thinly as you can while still keeping each slice intact.

 

 Whisk together cornstarch and soy sauce until no lumps remain. Add egg white, and whisk until thoroughly combined but not frothy.

Pour mixture over the meat. Squish the mixture together with your hands so that the meat is coated well. Cover, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, up to one hour.

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees and spray a 9 x 13 casserole dish, set aside.

Place spinach in microwave bowl and cook on high for 2:30, drain well. This will thaw and blanch it.

Cut up the onion. Rinse the mushrooms and quarter. Set aside.

Heat oil in a large skillet. Working in batches, brown the pieces of the meat for about 3 minutes each, removing these from the pot with a slotted spoon into a colander to drain.

Add the chopped onion and mushrooms to hot oil and let cook for 5 -6 minutes. The onions should be translucent and mushrooms starting to brown.

Scoop them out and drain on paper towels.

In a large bowl, mix can of soup with alfredo sauce and broth.

Add the pasta and stir until each piece of pasta is well coated.

Squeeze out any liquid left in the spinach.

Stir together the onion/mushrooms with the spinach in the skillet.

 

 

Cut up the cream cheese into small chunks.

Stir them into the skillet until they melt.

Then into the soupy pasta and stir in the pieces of pork.

 

 

Pour this into the sprayed casserole dish and cover tightly with foil.

Let roast in the 375 degree oven for 45 minutes.

Carefully remove from oven, uncover and stir.

Sprinkle top with shredded cheese and return to oven for another 15 – 20 mins to make sure the cheese has touches of brown and the pasta is tender.

Let stand 10 mins before serving.

 

 

For our music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe_1B1P9Bw4 les bicyclettes de belsize

So proud to serve this for my Master Indy

socialslave

To satisfy and restore.

To nourish, support and maintain.

To gratify, spoil, comfort and please,

to nurture, assist, and sustain

…..I cook!

Please buy slave's cookbook:

The Little Black Book of Indiscreet Recipes by Dan White

 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F315Y4I/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_vAT4sb0934RTM via @amazon