Fettucine Pasta Salad

Nothing ground breaking in this recipe, but it was a tasty make-ahead for a crazy night, and the leftovers are great too.

1 pound of Fettucini
16 ounces of grape tomatoes, cut in half
3 medium zucchini, cut into cubes
1 cup of baby spinach, roughly chopped
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, minced
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
zest of one lemon
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients except for the pasta and spinach and mix well.

Break the dried fettucini into three pieces before boiling, and cook until al dente.

Drain the fettucini and while still steaming hot, pour it over the tomato/zucchini/herb mixture and let it sit for a minute or two.   Then toss it together, allowing the hot pasta to "cook" the mixture a bit.

Either let it sit till room temperature, or cool in the fridge until about a hour before serving.  

Then toss in the spinach right before serving, so it doesn't wilt too much.

Enjoy!

Crock Pot Bo Ssam

I fully concede that this may be a sacrelige to those who care about authentic Korean cooking.   And it's not quite as tasty as the real thing, nor does it make your house smell as good.   But I don't always have 6 hours to tend and baste a big old pork butt simmering away in my oven -- for the weeknight when you have that Bo Ssam craving, this substitute will do.

Here's the original posting I did, which contains a link to the NY Times' piece about David Chang and his Bo Ssam Miracle.  http://judyfoodislove.blogspot.com/2014/01/bo-ssam.html

To make it a little more user friendly, here's what I do:

The night before you want to eat this, cover a pork butt in a 1 to 1 mixture of kosher salt and sugar and let it marinate overnight.

Rinse it off this morning and put it in a crock pot with about 1/3 cup apple juice (I'm sure water would work just fine).

Cover the top of it with brown sugar and a wee bit more salt.

Cover and turn the crock pot onto low heat and let it cook for the entire day (I start mine by 7:30 at the latest, as I'm running out the door).

Make the same sauces and serve as described in the link above.  You don't get all the same crispy/crusty pieces you would after a long day in the oven, but trust me, it's still tastier than 90% of the other pork dishes you'd ever make.

Pan-elet (a new Breakfast treat!)

I made this one up on the spot one morning -- had unexpected house guests and neither enough eggs to make some sort of omelet, nor enough pancake mix to make pancakes.   So, I combined them both with some other ingredients and came up with a real treat.

In a large skillet that is oven-safe, I sauteed one large onion, which I diced, and about 1/2 cup of diced ham in a few tablespoons of olive oil.   But you could use any ingredients you like -- breakfast meats or veggies.

As they're cooking, beat 4-6 eggs with a dollop of milk or half-and-half, and mix the eggs with a roughly equal amount of pancake batter (I like Aunt Jemimah Complete -- just add water and it's all done).

When your sauteed ingredients are done, pour the egg/pancake mixture over them, and gently stir them all together and allow the mixture to set in the pan.   You could fold in some shredded cheese of your choice as well.

After the pan-elet has set for a few minutes, place it in a 400 degree oven for about 10 - 15 minutes, until it firms up and cooks through.

Slide it out of the pan, cut into slices and serve -- heartier and more filling than a mere omelet, this was a big hit at our breakfast table.