M.'s Perfect Pasta Salad

Let it be known that neither of us is a real fan of pasta salad. Which is why we both found ourselves happily surprised when we tried our sister-in-law's version during our annual visit to New Jersey. M.'s colorful rainbow mix of fresh vegetables coupled with a slightly sweetened mayonnaise made this a perfect pasta salad, one we enjoyed enough to make for a potluck the very next weekend. It's fresh, it's easy, and it feeds a crowd. 

Feel free to change your pasta shape - M. uses ditalini, but we prefer the classic elbows. 

M.'s Perfect Pasta Salad

(serves 10-12 as a side dish)

Ingredients:

1 pound pasta

1 red pepper, cleaned and diced

3 carrots, peeled and diced

1 yellow pepper, cleaned and diced

3 stalks celery, diced

1 red onion, diced

1/2 cup chopped parsley

1/4 to 1/2 cup mayonnaise, to taste

1-2 tablespoons granulated sugar, to taste

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Boil water and prepare pasta according to package directions; drain and set aside to cool. Mix all vegetables (peppers, carrots, celery, onions) and parsley together in a large bowl, then add cooled pasta. Fold in mayonnaise and sugar, then season with salt and pepper to taste. 

Spring Vegetable Farfalle for Meatless Monday

It is officially spring in Connecticut. It's 70 degrees out, the sun is high in the sky even at 5:00 p.m., and we have mini-forests of crocus all along our driveway. Oh look! Our spring onions and chives are coming in! At last, at last, it's spring at last!

And it's Monday, so what better meal to make for this beautiful spring day than something for Meatless Monday? This Food and Wine recipe seemed like the perfect gift when it arrived in our email box last week and we saved it for a day just like this one. As usual, we made some adjustments based our tastes and what we had on hand.

What we loved about this recipe was the wonderful fresh taste it gets from the green vegetables, seasonal herbs and tangy lemon. While we enjoyed it hot, we could see gracing our summer picnic table as a pasta salad alongside some barbecue. Mmmm...mmmm.

Spring Vegetable Farfalle

adapted from this recipe from Food and Wine

Ingredients:

2 slices white sandwich bread, finely chopped

1/2 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons snipped chives

1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 bunch broccolini

1 pound mini-farfalle

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 fennel bulb - halved, cored and thinly sliced

juice from 1/2 lemon

2 drops lemon oil

Preheat the oven to 350. On a baking sheet, toss the bread with 1/4 cup of the oil and toast for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring once, until golden. Let cool, then stir in half each of the chives and tarragon. Season the crumbs with salt and pepper and set aside. In a pot of boiling salted water, cook the broccolini until tender, 1 minute; using tongs, transfer to a cutting board and coarsely chop. Boil the pasta in the broccolini water until al dente. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water. In a deep skillet or wok, melt the butter in the remaining 1/4 cup of oil. Add the garlic, fennel and broccolini and cook over moderate heat until the fennel is crisp-tender, about 6 minutes. Add the pasta, lemon juice and cooking water and season with salt and pepper. Cook over moderate heat until the water is nearly absorbed. Stir in the remaining herbs and lemon oil. Sprinkle the pasta with the bread crumbs just before serving.

Chocolate Stout Spoon Roast

Last Friday, we attended what may be the best party (at the best price!) in town: the Thomas Hooker Brewing Company Open House. Happening on the 1st and 3rd Fridays of every month from 5-8, this happy hour shindig takes place right in the brewery in Bloomfield, Connecticut and costs a mere $10. In exchange for your tenner, you get a little plastic cup and access to two bars, with four taps each, flowing freely with the freshest beer around. There are pizza slices on sale (proceeds go to charity) for when you need sustenance, and oh, did we mention you get to take home a souvenir pint glass? Hollah!

On this particular Friday, the beer everyone was buzzing about was Hooker's brand new seasonal brew made with another Connecticut favorite, Munson's Chocolates. Hooker is using Munson's proprietary cocoa blend to create a smooth, luscious "Chocolate Truffle Stout" that is a dark, delicious, easily drinkable beer with hints of chocolate and coffee and a surprising lack of bitterness. We loved it so much, we purchased a growler ($11 new, $8 to refill) with every intent to use it in our cooking.

Wash, slice and dice the veggies. Aren't those purple carrots gorgeous?

Season, flour and brown the roast

Let the roasting magic happen

The very next morning it was starting to snow. Undeterred, we carefully drove to the nearest market where we picked up a 4-pound spoon roast (a top sirloin cut) and some vegetables. That afternoon, we seasoned, seared and cooked the roast and veggies in a cup of the chocolate stout and served it with creamy mashed potatoes (with a pint of stout to wash it down with, naturally). While the wonderful chocolate flavor of the beer wasn't very pronounced in the dish, the meat was especially tender and the carrots, celery and onions had a dark flavor and color that we could only attibute to the stout. Now what to do with the leftovers? Check back in a couple of days for our own "Chocolate Stout Chili."

Hooker Brewer is located at 16 Tobey Road in Bloomfield, CT. They also have tours and tastings on Saturdays. Their Chocolate Truffle Stout should be hitting grocery and liquor store shelves in the beginning of February, just in time for Valentine's Day. Drink local!

 

Chocolate Stout Spoon Roast

Ingredients:

1 3-4 lb. spoon roast

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 sweet onion, chopped

3-4 cups vegetables (we used celery and carrots), chopped

1 cup Hooker Chocolate Truffle Stout

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Season the roast with salt and pepper and sprinkle it all over with flour. Heat olive oil in a roasting pan and sear the roast on all sides until nicely browned. Remove roast and set aside. Place vegetables in the pan and saute for a minute or two, until onions start to caramelize. Return the roast to the pan, on top of the vegetables. Pour the stout into the pan. Cook at 425 for 15 minutes. Turn heat down to 325; cover or tent pan with aluminum foil and continue to roast at 325 for one hour, or until internal temperature reaches 130 for medium rare. Remove roast from pan and allow to rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving. In the meantime, stir the vegetables and stout and continue to cook to reduce and thicken slightly. Serve vegetables on the side of slices of roast topped with "stout gravy."

Meatless Monday: A Fresh Take on Pasta Primavera

There's something about the old Pasta Primavera that is unappealing. Perhaps it's all the banquets where it sits in a hotel pan over sterno so long that it ends up as overcooked pasta slathered in separating butter and heavy cream. Or maybe it's all the weddings, where it's offered as The Vegetarian Option, in which said vegetables are sad, brown, withered and mushy like the so-called "green" beans in the school cafeteria. This evening we wanted to take another look at the pasta named after springtime and see if we could give it a freshness worthy of its name. Here's what resulted in a bright dish that had lots healthy goodness (thanks for all those spring vegetables), a good variety of textures (al dente pasta, crisp veggies and creamy ricotta), and a little bit of a kick (hello garlic and red pepper!).

Ingredients:

1/2 pound penne pasta

1 cup fresh peas

1/4 pound green beans, cut in half

1/4 pound sugar snap peas

3 small carrots, cut into small rounds

1 small yellow squash, diced

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

3/4 cup ricotta cheese

kosher salt

1 tablespoon chopped chives

1 tablespoon chopped mint

Vegetables and herbs are prepped and ready to go

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Cook pasta three minutes less than package directs. Add the peas, green beans, snap peas, carrots and squash in with the pasta and cook for the remaining time (3-4 minutes), until pasta and vegetables are to desired tenderness. In a large saute pan, add the oil, garlic and red pepper flakes. Put the heat on medium and begin to cook the garlic and pepper in the oil, taking care not to burn it. Drain the pasta and vegetables and add them to the saute pan; toss well. Stir in the parmesan and ricotta and salt to taste. Toss with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and serve into pasta dishes. Sprinkle each dish with some chopped chives and mint.

Pasta and vegetables boiling together for three to four minutes

Garlic and red pepper flakes heating up with some olive oil

Add some cheese, please!