Asparagus Spring Pasta Salad

So that is the scene of my dining room table and has been for about a week.  I've had 2 catering jobs to prepare for and carry out plus Noah's 1st birthday party that I'm gearing up for!  I live by lists and since I don't have a smartphone, I write everything out by hand.  I've been pouring through recipe book after recipe book for ideas, ingredient lists, and recipes to compare in order to write my own yellow cake recipe.  It's busy, but I love this stuff!  If only it could be my full-time job...

Anyway, I will show the pictures from my most recent catering gig, but instead of writing a story (it'd be pretty boring, anyway--things went smoothly) or sharing the recipes for all of the dishes, I picked one to document and will write about that.  The other recipes are either repeaters or I'm sure I will make them again and write out the recipe at that time for you all.  So here's my recipe for a spring pasta salad featuring asparagus!

Asparagus Spring Pasta Salad
The idea for this recipe came from Rachael Ray, I believe, but I don't really know what her exact measurements of ingredients were.  I made a double recipe for the luncheon, but here I will just document a "single" recipe, though it will probably feed quite a few people!  The dressing is a little more involved than just using a salad dressing or (gasp!) mayonnaise (although those pasta salads do taste wonderful) but the added effort is worth it because it makes for a healthier dressing and a flavorful salad!

1 lb Farfalle (bowtie pasta)
1 bunch asparagus
1 red pepper, sliced or chopped
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 shallot
1/3 cup olive oil (or extra virgin)
3 TB white wine vinegar
salt, pepper

1. Wash and cut the asparagus.  You can get a good idea of where to cut the asparagus by bending a spear.  Wherever it breaks naturally, is where you should cut.  Discard the ends.  Then cut the remaining spears into thirds or fourths.

2. Boil and salt a large pot of water.  Get the pasta cooking.

3. Blanch the asparagus.  Par-boil it in a saucepan (about 2 minutes) then immediately plunge the spears into ice water to stop the cooking and "lock in" that beautiful, green color.

4. Finely chop the shallot and then get it cooking with the olive oil.  Cook for 1-2 minutes or until fragrant.  Allow to cool.  Add in the white wine vinegar and mix.

5. Drain the pasta.  Combine the pasta, dressing, and frozen peas.  It's important to add the dressing while the pasta is hot so it can absorb some of the flavor.  Adding the peas right away will help defrost them.

6. Add the red pepper and asparagus.  Season with pepper.  Mix well.

The cookies are cooling.

Abby with an icing-covered face!

I've decided that if I'm going to go into the business of cooking and baking, I cannot lick the beaters ALL THE TIME.  Actually, like, never.  Not anymore!  But Abby still can! :)  Check out these shots of the whoopie pies I made for the luncheon.

 

The finished products!

Sunday's lunch:

chicken piccata

herb-roasted potatoes

There's that pasta salad!

I made a few fruit pizzas...

I loved this design I came up with and was so disappointed that it got smushed in the car!!!

Day 77: Devil Skillet Chicken, Sun-dried Tomato Pasta Salad

Although tonight's meal was delicious, it wasn't exactly a fun experience to eat with the family.  It was one of those nights where I had to actually put some of my discipline philosophies about table manners into action, which is never fun, but necessary.

"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."  Proverbs 22:6

For more of my thoughts on children, mealtime, and table manners, see Day 68.  My goal is not to embarrass my daughter or speak of her disobedience on such a public forum, so I won't go into details about our dinnertime.  I will simply say that we had a busy and fun afternoon (lunch at "Five Guys" and frozen yogurt at "Orange Leaf" plus a lot of outside play) and she missed out on her nap.  Her father and I let her down a cup of "Hi-C" (full of things you should "never" give your child and we probably won't do it again) and we suffered the consequences.  But, what goes up, must come down, right?  Abby was dismissed from the table early and I read her a story and put her to bed.  But besides those things, dinner was great!  Here are my recipes:

Devil Skillet Chicken
6-8 pieces of chicken legs/thighs (bone-in, skin-on)
2-3 TB dijon mustard
1-2 TB freshly chopped rosemary
1-2 tsp dried oregano
1-2 tsp red pepper flakes
olive oil
1/2 cup dry white wine

Heat a cast-iron skillet with some olive oil over medium-high heat.  Season the chicken with salt and pepper and place in the skillet, skin-side down.  Cook for about 5 minutes.  Turn the chicken to cook 5 minutes on the other side.  (You may want to cook them longer depending on how hot your skillet is/how brown the skin gets.)  Mix the mustard, rosemary, oregano, and red pepper flakes together.  Spread over the skin of the chicken pieces.  Remove the skillet from the heat for a minute.  Pour the white wine into the skillet and place in a 400* oven for 25-30 minutes or until cooked through.  Serve with a pasta salad to counter the heat of the chicken.  Crusty bread is always a great option, too!

Sun-dried Tomato Pasta Salad
3/4 lb pasta (cork-screw or penne, or your choice)
1 jar of sun-dried tomatoes, drained
8 oz feta cheese
fresh chopped parsley
fresh chopped oregano (or dried)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 TB white wine vinegar
option: black olives  (These would be a great addition to this salad if you like them.  Randy does and I don't so I don't put them into the salad, but I always buy them for Randy to add to his on his plate.)

Cook the pasta according to package instructions.  Drain and run under cold water to stop the cooking.  Chop the sun-dried tomatoes and add them to the pasta.  Crumble and add the feta.  Put in the parsley and oregano and garlic.  Drizzle in the olive oil and white wine vinegar.  Mix together well to combine.  Serve cold or at room temperature.

Day 48: Greek Orzo Salad

Confession: This was MEANT to be yesterday's (Saturday's - Day 48's) lunch, but I failed.  The day got away from me somehow and I ended up shoving down a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch.  For dinner, we had planned on going out, which we did.  We went to Red Robin (I told you we love burgers) and ended up seeing a few familiar faces (always fun) and a waitress who swore up and down I was familiar to her, but she didn't know from where.  Anyway... I did get some inspiration from Red Robin again.  I have always loved their "Burnin' Love" burger and that will probably be one of the next ones I create.  (Although we're having burgers next weekend when my mother-in-law is in town and I'm not sure she'll be up for such a spicy burger--I may have to plan a different style.)

So, I ended up making the Greek Orzo Salad this morning to have for lunch today.  But I'm still going to put the recipe under Day 48 since I have about 3 recipes for Day 49 (today) alone.

Ever since our honeymoon in Greece, I LOVE a good Greek salad, or any kind of Greek flavoring in a salad.  Feta cheese is sooo good and I love looking for ways to put it in a salad or pasta salad.  A friend of mine made an orzo salad one day and brought it over for our lunch get together.  I think this is similar to the way she made hers:

Greek Orzo Salad
The thing I love about pasta salads is that you really can adjust the ingredients to fit your taste.  Don't like feta cheese?  Go light on that and heavy on the tomatoes.  Dress it as you see fit.  This is definitely a summery pasta salad, but we just set the clocks ahead, so I think it's about time.  I'm just itching for summer so I can make all my favorite summertime recipes!
1 box orzo
3-4 mini cucumbers, thickly sliced and halved
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1-2 bulks of feta cheese (I get mine from the olive bar at the grocery store.  It sits in its brine and tastes fresh.  It's sold by the "bulk" so I try to fit as much in the little container as I can.  If you can't buy it this way, 8-10 oz should be good.)
salt, pepper
2-3 TB fresh chopped parsley
Greek salad dressing (A traditional Greek salad is served with extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper.  You can easily dress your pasta salad this way.  However, if you're nervous about putting too much vinegar or oil in, Ken's Steakhouse makes a really good Greek dressing!)

Cook the orzo according to the package instructions.  Drain and combine with the vegetables, parsley, and cheese.  Season liberally with salt and pepper (while it's still hot!) and drizzle with Greek dressing to taste.  Refrigerate until cold.