Mediterranean Pasta Salad

It's been hotter than the dickens lately.  Ok, not really.  But when you live in a condo w/ no central air, anything over 75 degrees makes me a bit anxious.  We have a portable a/c in Kuen's room and we crank it down to 65 on "hot" days so when I get home, I open/shut the door as quickly as possible so I can keep as much cool air in this condo as I can.  

Ahhh, come to mama.

When I see Gabe lollygagging instead of slamming the door shut as quickly as possible, I always yell "close the door!" then he stops what he's doing (with the door OPEN) and looks as me with a quizzical , "huh?" every. damn. time.  Same thing happens when he does this w/ the fridge or freezer door.  Anger stroke.

I've gotten more used to it but I can't bear to turn the stove on for long periods of time and you can forget any kind of baking until September at the earliest.  Which is silly, considering how cookie season is in the summer.  Ok, nevermind.  Cookies are prettymuch always in season.

If you have some leftover pasta in your fridge, 'cooking' this pasta salad adds approximately ZERO degrees to your (already hot) kitchen.  I've also just done the cooking parts in the morning when things haven't gotten too hot yet and then I've prepped some things to make dinner come together even faster so I can get done w/ dinner and park myself in front of a fan as quickly as possible.

I was in such a hurry to shovel this in my mouth I took a blurry picture. Sue me.

Mediterranean Pasta Salad

makes 6 servings

2 c. grape tomatoes, halved
1 English (or hot house) cucumber, diced
1 red pepper, julienned 
1 c. kalamata olives, roughly chopped
6 oz. dry salami, thinly sliced
4 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
8 oz. short cut pasta (1/2 lb)
1 green onion, sliced thinly (optional)

Greek Dressing

1/3 red wine vinegar
2/3 cup of extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic finely minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons sugar (updated)
1 teaspoon dried basil
2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons of salt
1/2 teaspoon of onion powder

Cook pasta according to package instructions.  While the pasta cooks, cut and prepare tomatoes, cucumber, pepper, olives and salami and toss together in a large bowl.  Prepare dressing.  After draining the pasta, allow it to cool slightly before adding to the vegetables.  Dress the salad (I use about 1/3 to 1/2 a cup) stir to combine.  Mix in feta, salami and fold.  Garnish with green onions.  Taste and adjust seasoning or add more dressing.

This pasta salad can be made ahead of time and gets better as the flavors blend.  

The dressing is seriously good.  This recipe make more then you need so I love to use the dressing as a marinade or to pour over sliced tomatoes.

Home Alone Husband Penne

My mom once told me this old Chinese story about a wife that left on some trip away from home and baked a big cookie to tie around her husband's neck so he wouldn't starve while she was gone. She came home to find him dead anyways - starved to death. The cookie was half eaten but only to top part that he could reach. He never flipped the cookie around to eat the bottom side.

Last weekend I took my mom to Vegas. The trip only lasted 3 days but in those short days, if left to his own vices, I may have found my own hubby dead of starvation. Or at least severely emaciated and malnourished. He would have been forced to consume what's left of the stale saltines, sniff out the hidden Oreos in the back of the cupboard or gnaw off his own arm.

Ok, I kid. Maybe not that last one, but there certainly would've been more than one trip to those famous golden arches. It's certainly not that Gabe can't feed himself, he just doesn't make very healthy choices. This pasta is good for fooling him into thinking he's eating some 'man food'. Joke's on him, there's tons of zucchini and whole wheat pasta in it.

We came home a few days later and..........he was still alive! Perfectly well fed with several balanced meals. He even made himself a little salad.

No he didn't. Salads = immediate loss of man cards.

No matter. He's alive. That's all that matters.

Love you, Boo.

Home Alone Husband Penne

Serves 6-8

3 zucchini, large
1 onion, large
4 garlic cloves
1 lb. sweet Italian sausage, bulk* 1 lb. fresh mozzarella
1 32 oz. jar marinara sauce
1/2 c. grated hard cheese (parmigiano reggiano or pecorino romano)
1 lb. box penne pasta (or any other short cut pasta)

* If you don't have Italian sausage, be crafty & make your own:

1 lb. pork shoulder
1 tsp. fennel seed
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. red pepper flake, optional
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven 350ºF. Start some water boiling for the pasta and preheat another large heavy bottom pot on high to saute veggies and brown sausage.

Now, let's start paring the veggies. I use a large dice on both the onion and zucchini:

Put about 3 tbsp. oil into the bottom of the pan. When it starts to ripple, get the onions in the pot and turn the heat down to sweat the onions. Sprinkle with salt & pepper.

Chop garlic.

When onions are nice and translucent, toss in zucchini and garlic.

I didn't happen to have the sausage on hand so I just ground some pork shoulder up in the food processor and added some spices.

If that's the route you're going, cube up the pork and pulse in the food processor until it's ground up.

Season w/ some salt & pepper.

What makes sausage taste like sausage..fennel seeds!

After the veggies cook down and look like this:

Put them aside on a plate:

Using the same pan on the same heat, put about 2 tbsp. light oil (I use canola) in the bottom and toss in the ground pork.

Now, don't crucify me - I didn't have any paprika. But if I did, I'd add it in here. I put some oregano and steak seasoning in instead. Just for fun. Gabe can't tell when things taste crazy.

Keep it stirring.

Water should be boiling at this point. Throw in a handful of salt.

Add in your pasta and boil a few minutes shy of whatever it says on the box.

You don't want the Sausage going too far so turn the heat down when the sausage is almost all the way cooked.

Cut your mozzarella into large 1" cubes. Boys LOVE this.

Rolling boil, good good.

Dump pasta, good good.

Dump the onion/zucchini mixture back in.

If you have your own marinara, you're an overachiever. I use my favorite jarred:

Pecorino Romano:

Dump the sauce in the pot.

Add in the chunks of mozzarella:

Use a spider and add in the pasta directly into the sauce..

Mixy mixy.

Stand back and admire. Try not to drool in the pot.

Transfer to a 9 x 13" pan.

Sprinkle w/ cheeeeese!

Yum.

Bake at 350ºF for about 30 minutes.

Ooey gooey mozzarella.

Those big chunks of cheese really make it.

Grilled Veggie Lasagna

I love making a mess in the kitchen. I have a deal with Gabe, I cook, he cleans. Depending on how I'm feeling sometimes I clean as I cook - for those dishes where I need lots of counter space. Counter space..valuable real estate at our condo. Some nights Gabe walks into the kitchen after what appears to be World War 3 and congratulates me on the mess. He calls the mess I make, "dish tyranny." Who's the drama queen now?

This lasagna isn't one of those, luckily. You're really only dirtying the grill pan, the lasagna pan and maybe one dish. I think that may be one of the reasons my primarily carnivorous man requests this vegetarian lasagna. That, and it's so freaking delicious even the most unapologetic meat eater requests it.

Another reason I always make this lasagna is because it uses a lot less pasta than your traditional lasagnas so I don't feel bad about slicing the pan in half and handing Gabe a fork and a bib. Bigger portions are fine, it's almost all veggies people.

I use Japanese eggplant for this but you could definitely use the regular bulbous ones. I like these better b/c the skins are much thinner and there are fewer seeds. I've heard eggplant can be bitter w/ the seeds but I've never found that to be true - maybe b/c I use these eggplants.





Grilled Veggie Lasagna

3 zucchini, medium
2 Japanese eggplant, large (or use 3 medium sized ones)
6-8 lasagna sheets
1.5 - 32 oz. jars of marinara sauce
1 - 15 oz. ricotta cheese (I only used about 2/3 of it)
1/2 c. Grana Padano grated cheese (*or Parmigiano Reggiano)
1 lbs. fresh mozzarella
olive oil, salt, pepper

I used a 9x12" pan. You'll want it to be at least 3" deep to help the bubble over effect.

Preheat a grill pan on high. Get the eggplant and zucchini pared.

Cut the tops and bottoms off and slice into 1/2" slices lengthwise.

In order to mitigate the 'dish tyranny', I use the same pan I'm going to assemble the lasagna in. Just place the sliced veggies in, drizzle with olive oil, salt & pepper.



When the pan starts to smoke, put your seasoned veggies down on the pan.



Each side should take about 2-3 minutes and flip:



Then you get these lovely grill marks...



Then the zucchini, same deal, 1/2" slices:








I make a little assembly line for good work flow. Have a plate handy for the grilled veggies when they're done.


The veggies are going to smoke so make sure you have the exhaust fan on and windows open. Or if you're lucky enough to be doing this on a real grill outside, it's probably temperate enough and you aren't experiencing inclement weather.

Wah wah wah, back to the grilling veggies.


Look at these beautiful eggplant. You can wrap anything in grilled eggplant and I would eat it.



Now, for the rest of the kids.



Don't forget to cut that fresh mozzarella into 1/4" thick slices.



See? I wasn't lying. There's that dirty lasagna pan I used to season the veggies. Just be sure there isn't too much salt on the bottom of the pan. If there is, just rinse it quickly before you start to assemble. Remember, don't be a dish tyrant.



Start w/ sauce - about 1 cup.





Lay down 4 lasagna sheets, uncooked. I promise, these will be cooked when you pull that lasagna out of the oven.



Ricotta - just eyeball it. Spread 1/3 of the tub.



Spoon it all over the pasta sheets.



Lay down a layer of grilled veggie..

Nom nom nom.

Sauce..




Pasta sheets..



Spread about 1/2 the mozzarella onto the pasta sheets.



More grilled veggies.



Oh, those grilled veggies. They make me salivate.



More sauce.




Then, the Grana Padano or Parm Reggiano. This adds SO much flavor to the lasagna.

Then, the last of the mozzarella.



Then, the last of the sauce.







More cheese please!



Make sure to line that pan w/ some foil, or you will be a negligent dish tyrant.



Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes w/ the foil on. Then uncover and bake for another 35 minutes. It comes out looking like..



The first time I tried this lasagna I put the mozzarella on top of the sauce and while the crust came out nice and pretty, the fresh mozzarella tends to get hard so unless you're planning on eating in one sitting, I like putting an extra layer of sauce on top to prevent the hard mozz layer.

So this is what it looks like..don't you want to just dive head first into this?

Oy. Help me control myself.