Pasta Salad with Salmon

My folks, aunt, and uncle were in town this past weekend, and thanks to that, I re-discovered one of my favorite summer recipes of my mom's. It's very similar to Salmon Salad, except that it omits the beans and adds pasta (which I'm always in favor of, obviously - nothing against beans, but pasta is my...um...bread and butter?).

This is seriously so good - the perfect summer recipe, because the only stove time is to boil some water for the pasta, beans, and eggs (which you can do in the same pot, if you're clever like my Ma). This recipe has changed over the years - we used to not use avocado or arugula; used lettuce, used peas, used tuna...you can really make it however you like. It's light, delicious, and relatively healthy. We top it (surprise!) with grated parmesan cheese, which really puts it over the edge.

Serves 5.

3/4 lb baby shells (bowtie pasta is really good for this, too)
Handful and a half or so green beans, cleaned and rinsed
3 eggs
10-15 baby carrots, sliced thin
1 avocado, peeled and cubed
1 container grape tomatoes, halved
2 cans or packages salmon
A few handfuls of arugula
Olive oil
White balsamic vinegar (lighter in flavor than regular balsamic; alternately, you can use fresh lemon juice)
Ground black pepper
Grated parmesan cheese, for serving

Place three eggs into the pot you'll use to cook the pasta in and add water for cooking the pasta. Bring to a boil, then add the pasta and the green beans.

Meanwhile, in a very large salad bowl, combine carrots, avocado, and grape tomatoes. Add the salmon and mix together.

When the pasta is ready, remove from heat. Drain the pasta and green beans and rinse with cold water. Remove the eggs and place in a bowl of cold water to cool. When the eggs have cooled, peel them, remove the yolks (unless you don't want to), and cube the egg whites into the salad bowl. Add the pasta and green beans.

Next, dress the salad. Oy, I wish I had actual measurements here for ya. You will use more olive oil than you probably would think - the ingredients soak it up well. Use the olive oil and balsamic in approximately a 2:1 ratio of oil to vinegar. I just watched my dad pour on the olive oil - I want to say it was at least 1/4 cup. Add olive oil, then balsamic, then toss to coat. Taste and adjust as needed.

Finally, add the arugula, along with just a splash more olive oil and vinegar. Grate in a little black pepper to taste. Toss to combine and serve!

Cooking Lesson!...and Arugula Salad with Goat Cheese and Strawberries

Back in April, I auctioned off a La Piccina Cucina cooking lesson to support Yale SOM's summer internship fund. Greg, a good friend of ours, was the "lucky" winner! He and his fiancee Jen came over last week to cash in on their winnings. It was a blast - for me, at least! Greg did great, too.

Greg made the excellent choice of Risotto with Broccoli Rabe and Pancetta. Not only is this delicious, but it's a useful recipe - risotto is a nice, fancy-seeming dish that's actually pretty simple, and really, once you've learned how to make basic risotto, you can really improvise with all kinds of additions. AND, this particular risotto recipe basically also teaches you how to make broccoli rabe as a side.

We also made a quick salad - Arugula Salad with Goat Cheese and Strawberries. Really, the name is the recipe. I wanted to do a salad to show how to make a basic olive oil/balsamic dressing. We used a bag of arugula, about 4-5 strawberries, sliced, and a healthy sprinkling of goat cheese  crumbles. We dressed it with 4 large spoonfuls of olive oil and 2 of balsamic. (2:1 ratio!) If you want the salad to stay pretty, dress the strawberries and arugula first, then just sprinkle with goat cheese. Or, do as we did (after this photo was taken) and dress it all together and mix (it won't look pretty anymore, but the cheese and dressing will coat the salad nicely).

We ended the night with a lesson from Joef on hot fudge (no Indian Ghost Pepper this time, to his chagrin) - probably one of the more fickle recipes we know, but definitely worth the effort.

Thanks to Greg and Jen for bidding on the lesson and for letting me geek out about cooking all night! Can't wait to do it again.

Mixed Green Salad with Goat Cheese, Green Apple, and Walnuts

OK, so posting a "recipe" for a salad is cheating a little. I mean, the title of the post is basically the recipe. Done. But hey - it doesn't hurt to share the idea, right? Particularly if it's a three-minute idea that tasted pretty dang good.

1 container/bag mixed greens, plus a handful of arugula, if you please
Crumbled goat cheese to taste
Small bag of chopped walnuts
1 green apple, chopped
3 large spoonfuls/tbsp olive oil
1.5 large spoonfuls/tbsp balsamic

Combine all the dry ingredients in a large salad bowl, then add the olive oil and balsamic, and toss!

Sauteed Pork Chops and Chickpea Salad

(Chops from Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything: Quick Cooking)

I don't think I've ever cooked pork chops before. But I couldn't resist Mark Bittman's foolproof recipe, nor could I resist two pork chops for $2.78. The chops were easy, juicy, and delicious, and I made up the salad using whatever we had in the house - turned out great, and a nice complementary side to boot. We'll definitely be making pork chops a major part of our menu these next couple years!

PORK CHOPS
Here is Mr. Bittman's recipe:

2 center-cut loin pork chops, about 1 inch thick
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 cup chicken stock (you can use water as an alternative)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar or freshly-squeezed lemon juice
Parsley leaves for garnish

Sprinkle the chops with salt and pepper. Place a large skillet over medium-high heat for 2 or 3 minutes. Add the 2 tablespoons olive oil; as soon as the first wisps of smoke rise from the oil, add the chops and turn the heat to high. Brown the chops on both sides, moving them around so they develop good color all over. This whole process should take four minutes or less.

Reduce the heat to medium. Add the wine and the garlic and cook, turning the chops once or twice, until the wine is all but evaporated, about 3 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of stock or water, turn the heat to low, and cover. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, turning the chops once or twice, until the chops are tender but not dry. When done, when you cut into them, the color will be rosy at first glance but quickly turn pale.

Remove the chops to a platter. If the pan juices are very thin, cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan, until the liquid is reduced slightly. Then stir in the butter over medium heat; add the wine vinegar, pour over the chops, garnish, and serve.

SALAD
1 can chick peas/ceci beans/garbanzos, rinsed and drained
1/2 small red onion, chopped
Handful of green beens, cooked or blanched, and chopped
4-6 baby carrots, sliced thinly
1 clove garlic, minced
1 spoonful balsamic vinegar
2 spoonfuls olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all your ingredients in a bowl, mix, and serve!

Pasta Salad with Tuna; Fruit Salad

Summer weather usually calls for minimum stove time (although I generally find myself craving excessively hot food in the summer, and cold stuff in the winter), and this is the perfect recipe for that. Alls ya gotta do stove-wise is boil water for the pasta and the hard-boiled eggs. This was also a summer favorite my mom used to make when I was growing up. And just cuz we were feeling extra-healthy, Joef made a fruit salad for dessert, to boot.

PASTA SALAD WITH TUNA
1/2 farfalle or other similar pasta
1 handful snow peas
1 handful grape tomatoes, halved
1 small package baby carrots, cut into thin rounds
1 handful frozen peas, defrosted
2 hard-boiled eggs, halved and sliced
2 cans albacore tuna
Balsamic vinegar
Olive oil
Salt to taste
Grated parmesan for serving

Start the water for the pasta boiling at the same time as you start to boil the eggs. In the meantime, prep the ingredients, patting veggies dry as you wash them. Combine in a bowl and add the tuna. When the eggs are ready, run them under cold water to cool (before and after peeling), then slice and add to the other ingredients. When the pasta is ready, run it under cold water and drain well. Combine everything together and drizzle with olive oil, then add balsamic (I added about 2 capfuls - always less balsamic than olive oil). Add salt to taste, mix to combine. Serve with grated parmesan cheese.

FRUIT SALAD
Bananas, apples, blueberries, and nectarines, sliced and topped with a squeeze of lemon juice to prevent browning.

Toothpick Caprese

My cousin Jake tells me it's been a bit of a dry spell over here. So Jake: here are three recipes today to remedy that problem!

I actually did very little, if any, cooking this weekend, because my parents visited for Mothers' Day. This means that the blog gets the added benefit of two recipes from two highly-accomplished chefs (i.e., not me): my mom and dad. This toothpick caprese salad was my only contribution. It is rather tasty, though - a nice appetizer for the rest of the meal.

All you need is fresh basil, grape tomatoes (or cherry, if you halved them), fresh mozarella (in our case, by local Crave Brothers Farm), ground pepper, olive oil, and vinegar. Use toothpicks to skewer the mozzarella, basil, and tomato together until you have as many as you want. Place them on a platter, and lightly drizzle with olive oil and less vinegar. Grind black pepper on top.

UPDATE: No toothpicks? Just put all the ingredients in a bowl and eat it like a salad:

Salmon Salad

My friend Alexis would be so proud of me - a salad, AND no pork products! Of course, it does have arugula...again. But that's not a bad thing, right?

This is adapted from my dad's recipe. It's great when you've been, er, cooking a lot of delicious things with butter and pork products and are getting a little, er, soft around the edges.

You'll need:
Arugula (a few handfuls)
1 handful cherry or grape tomatoes
Pink salmon (1 package or 1 can)
One avocado, chopped
1/2 can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 light squeeze of fresh lemon
3 tsp-ish olive oil
1.5 tsp-ish balsamic vinegar
Fresh dill to taste (optional - we couldn't find any tonight, but we prefer when we do)

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, mix, and serve!

Mussels; Aglio e Olio; Arugula Salad

My best friend was in town for the weekend, so I decided to actually prepare a full-out meal, with sides and salad and everything. Mussels are a great way to go - they're delicious, truly easy, and significantly less expensive than clams. Plus, I'll eat seafood any chance I get.

1. Mussel with White Wine, Shallots, and Thyme (from www.cookthink.com)
Black mussels (scrubbed, de-bearded), 2 pounds
Butter, 2 tbsp
Small shallots (minced), 3
Garlic (minced), 2
Fresh thyme, 3 sprigs
White wine, 1/2 cup
Chopped fresh parsley, 1/2 cup

Put the mussels in a large pot of cold water; scrub each one clean and remove the beard and any grime on the shells. Drain them in a collander.

In a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat. When it's hot and foaming, add the shallots and cook 2-3 minutes, until they just begin to soften. Stir in the garlic and cook 30 seconds. Add the thyme, wine and mussels. Stir, then cover the pot and turn the heat up to medium-high. Steam the mussels until they open. (Throw them out if they don't.) Sprinkle over the parsley and stir to combine the mussels with the sauce.

2. Aglio e Olio
Garlic (minced), 3 cloves
Olive oil
Salt
Red pepper flakes
Pasta

Start heating the olive oil (a generous amount, since it makes up most of the sauce) over medium heat. Add the garlic and let it simmer - don't let it burn. It should get nice and golden. Depending on the level of heat you want, add the red pepper flakes either early, with the oil, or late. Once the garlic is golden, mix the sauce into the spaghetti. Add a little fresh parsley if ya have it.

3. Arugula Salad
Arugula
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar

Put arugula in a bowl, drizzle some olive oil over it, and add less balsamic vinegar. Mix it up.