Pasta Salad

Cold pasta salad is one of my favorite summer recipes. It’s great at a BBQ, or you can even make it in advance to take to a camp-out or picnic. Full of fresh vegetables, this is a healthy and light dish that is sure to get plenty of compliments. Every time I cook this, people rave about how they love it. It’s a big favorite!

Pasta salad is a pretty simple recipe to make. However, rather than just writing this like a typical recipe, I’m going to provide plenty of pictures, so you can see how things are supposed to look. (Click on the images for more detailed versions.) Feel free to experiment with the ingredients. It’s far more important to include high quality fresh ingredients than to follow the recipe exactly. So if something is out of season or looks old, substitute it or leave it out.

Diva’s Famous Pasta Salad

• 1 pound dry tri-color fusilli
• 1 red onion
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 1/2 bunch fresh basil
• 4 stalks asparagus
• 1 cup chopped parsley
• 4 oz crumbled feta cheese
• 1 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 10 ripe cherry tomatoes
• 10 crimini mushroms
• 1 portabello mushroom
• 3 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 sm jar pitted kalamata olives
• 1/2 cup dry salami – chopped up
• kosher salt
• pepper grounds

Step 1: Sautée the Mushrooms & Asparagus

In a large or medium skillet, heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. You’ll know it’s hot enough if you add a few drops of water and they sizzle. Add 3 tablespoons of minced garlic, sliced crimini mushrooms, the portobello mushroom chopped into 1/2″-1″ squares, and the asparagus chopped up into 1/2″-1″ pieces. Add a little freshly ground pepper and some kosher salt.

Cover it and sautée over medium heat until the vegetables soften up, but take care not to over-cook the mushrooms. It should look like the photo to the right when it’s done.

Now remove it immediately from the heat. This needs to cool completely so dump everything in a large bowl – the more surface area the better. Nest that bowl into a larger filled with ice and water. Leave it alone and proceed to step 2.

Step 2: Boil the Pasta

Get a large stock pot and fill it up about 2/3 the way full of water. Add a dash of salt and bring to a boil.

When the water is boiling rapidly, dump in the pasta. Turn it down to medium-high and stir often. Cook the pasta until it’s al denté, about ten minutes, and then drain.

Step 3: Chop the Veggies

While the pasta is boiling, you can begin chopping the rest of the veggies. Chop them into 1/2″ pieces. The cherry tomatoes should be quartered. The olives should be sliced.

Slice the basil into small strips and chop the parsley finely. Dump it all into a nice big bowl.

Step 4: Put it All Together

Add in the chopped salami, cheese, a pinch of salt, freshly ground pepper, and the cooled vegetable mix. Pour in a cup of extra virgin olive oil and a cup of balsamic vinegar. Now stir it all up.

Step 5: EAT!

This dish is best the next day so you want to let it marinade at least a few hours and wait a day if you can help it. Then serve it cold or at room temperature.

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Tip: Cook Bacon in the Oven

The next time you’re going to cook bacon, rather than jumping around the kitchen to avoid hot grease spattering out of the frying pan, why not just bake it? You’ll have less mess and the pieces will come out perfectly flat rather than wrinkly.

Just take out a baking sheet and lay bacon across it. I’d recommend putting a piece of parchment down first to soak up the grease. You can place the pieces as close together as you’d like without touching. Since they don’t expand like cookies, you can fit plenty on there. Bake it in a preheated 450º oven for about 15-20min. Keep an eye on it because cooking times depend on the quality of your bacon and how well calibrated your oven is. (I’m told this only takes about ten minutes in a convection oven.)

When you’re all done, just take them out of the oven and using tongs, immediately cool them (+/-5min) on a cooling or a plate. Be sure you don’t let them cook on the baking sheet or the grease will stick to them.

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You say cho-REE-so, I say cho-REE-tho

Tip: The Differences Between Spanish & Mexican Chorizos

If you have a paella recipe that you’re just dying to try out, and it calls for chorizo, don’t make the mistake of buying the chorizo that’s commonly found in most California grocery stores. These sausages are not the same thing. While both are very tasty meats similarities stop with the spelling. They’re even pronouced differently. Mexicans pronounce their z like an English letter ’s’. Spaniards pronounce it like a soft ‘th’ , as in bath.

Mexican chorizo is quite spicy and generally made of pork, but can also contain beef, goat or havalina. It’s cooked outside the casing and has a very similar consistency to ground beef. I like to get it at my favorite Mexican grocery stores although it’s available in the meat section of most super markets. You can also make it yourself. It’s delicious cooked into beans or eggs.

Spanish chorizo is similar to linguica. This salt-cured sausage made of pork, is seasoned with paprika, garlic and other spices. It can be eaten as is or cooked into paellas and many other Spanish recipes. Spanish chorizo comes in a variety of styles and levels of spiciness. I usually buy several packages and keep it in my freezer. It will keep in the freezer almost indefinitely

There are als other varieties of chorizos that come from Argentina, Uruguay and the Phillipines (longaniza), each quite distinct from eachother.

Keep watching this blog and I’ll be sure to post recipes containing both.

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Who’s Paying the Bill for Restaurant Workers’ Healthcare?

A new trend in San Francisco dining seems to be catching on, and surprisingly, it has nothing to do with food. Eateries all over town have started applying health care surcharges to the bill. Some are adding on 2%-5% of the bill, while others tack on $1-$3 per diner. And diners seem to have very mixed reactions. What’s this all about?

Effective in 2008, San Francisco businesses with more than twenty employees must provide health care to all staff members who work over ten hours a week. How much health care they are required to offer depends on the size of the business. The mandate comes from the San Francisco Health Care Security Ordinance (HCSO) which most of us voted for. But did voters think they’d be seeing it on their restaurant bills?

The first time I encountered the health care surcharge was late this winter, when I had drinks at the new Water Bar. The menu stated very clearly that the there would be a 4% charge and why. I was actually glad to see it. Too many of my friends & family members are without health care.

I didn’t really think about it again until I read Michael Bauer’s blog post in the Chronicle about how outraged diners at the Epic Roasthouse have been. Epic is next door to Water Bar and they opened on the same day. But I wouldn’t go to either expecting an inexpensive meal—so what’s another 4% that’s earmarked for something so vital as health care?

The next time I encountered a surcharge was this week at the Buckhorn Grill, a fast food version of the Buckhorn Road House. This time, I was not aware of the charge before I ordered but it was only 2% and when added to a $7 salad to go, the extra $0.14 didn’t seem like any imposition.

But plenty of Yelpers are unhappy . A frequent arguement is that health care is an operational cost. Businesses should raise their prices accordingly rather than add a gimmicky “surcharge” to the bill. Another yelper in this thread said if we have to pay a surcharge for someone else’s health care, it should at least be tax deductable. I thought that was an interesting point. Others commented that if they had to pay the surcharge, they’d be inclined to tip less—effectively making the restaurant staff pay out of pocket.

My take on this is that the Health Care Ordinance clearly effects margins of restaurants and rather just raising the prices, they are providing some explanation to their patrons. I voted for and support the HCSO and I also understand that Health Care costs money. I would not be surprised to start seeing retail businesses follow suit with surcharges. Besides, as other supporters have commented, eating out is a luxury and if I cannot afford the extra 4% then I’ll eat at home. I have a choice.

What do you think?

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Tilapia as a Great Seafood Option

With salmon being virtually unavailable this year, and the list of over-farmed seafood growing, I feel like the fish choices keep getting slimmer all the time. Luckily, tilapia is still a great choice*.

I really like this fish. It’s available at any decent fish market or Asian grocery store, usually live or very fresh. It’s also much less expensive than other seafood choices, usually about $3/lb. And unless gutting fish is your thing, ask the guy at the meat counter to clean it for you before you bring it home.

Here’s one of my favorite ways to prepare tilapia. Herb Stuffed Tilapia makes a great summer main dish that’s low fat and full of delicious flavor.

For more tilapia recipes, Tessa Evans has a blog devoted to them. You can also find a list of tilapia recipes presented by the American Tilapia Association.

Herb Stuffed Tilapia

Prep time: about 20 min. Cook time: about 30 min. Skill Level: medium to easy.

1 large whole tilapia, cleaned
1 lemon sliced into thin wedges
1 lemon sliced into rounds
2 tbsp fresh dill, finely chopped
2 tbsp fresh thyme, finely chopped
2 tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
3 green onions, finely chopped
3 or 4 green onions, sliced vertically
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 stick butter
1 cup white wine
1 tbsp peppercorns
salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, mix dill, thyme, rosemary, chopped onion and garlic. Place fish into 9″x13″ baking pan. If the tail sticks out, just trim it with a pair of scissors. Next, lay 4 or 5 slices of butter into the body cavity of the fish, spread out. Stuff the fish with most of the herbs mixture leaving out about 1/4 cup. Pour 3/4 cup of wine into the fish. Now seal the opening off with the lemon wedges (see picture). Pour the remaining wine over the top of the fish and salt. Sprinkle the rest of the herb mixture over the top. Lay the sliced lemons over the top. Arrange the other onions on the bottom of the pan.

Cover tightly with foil and bake for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees or until fish is done and tender. It should just fall apart with a fork.

* Just be sure that you’re getting tilapia farmed in the US or Central America as the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch warns against the fish if it’s farmed in China.

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