Pasta salads are a great go-to summer meal, easy, fresh and cold, no oven required! The variations are really endless. Today I used mini bow tie pasta and mixed it with a homemade pesto, mini heirloom tomatoes and marinated mozzarella ~ healthy, colorful and yummy! So avoid that oven this summer, be creative and make your own fresh pasta salad :)
Recipe:
1/2 box mini bowtie pasta or pasta of choice
1 container mini heirloom tomatoes or cut up tomatoes of your choice - about 1 1/2 -2 cups
1 container marinated mozzarella balls, cut in 1/2, reserve marinade
fresh basil
About 1/2 of the prepared pesto recipe below or to taste
Pesto: 1/4 cup walnut halves - toasted just until fragrant. 2 cups cleaned fresh arugula. 1 cup cleaned fresh basil. 3 Tbs grated parmigiana cheese. 1 garlic clove
4 Tbs olive oil. Kosher salt.
Transfer cooled walnuts, arugula, basil, cheese and garlic to a food processor and process until finely chopped. Add olive oil and process until blended. Stir in salt to taste.
Cook pasta according to package directions, strain and let cool. Mix in about 2 Tbsp of the reserved mozzarella marinade so that pasta does not stick together while cooling. Place in refrigerator to speed up cooling. While cooling, prepare pesto. When pasta has cooled, add desired amount of pesto (I used a little less than 1/2 of my mixture), tomatoes and fresh torn basil and mix with pasta, then add mozzarella and toss together. Garnish with more fresh basil if desired, refrigerate until ready to serve.
Enjoy!
I recently found a lost treasure ~ some old recipes I cut out from various magazines and saved over the years, some date back to when I was a teenager, looking through these brought back great memories. I will be recreating these recipes very soon. One of my Facebook readers just asked for a tamale recipe and I happened to just find a great one in there. It is from 2004, in Life magazine - I think it was an insert in Newsday at one time. I haven't made this in a while but I remember it was a very good one. It was created by chef and author Rick Rodgers and found in his book "Celebrations 101"
http://astore.amazon.com/rosscoubak-20/detail/0767914643 
This recipe uses chicken as the protein but I think it could work just as well with pork, steak or ground beef.
Here's the recipe:
Filling
2 Tbsp olive oil, plus more to coat baking dish
1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1 "cubes
1 med onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, diced into 1/2 "pieces
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 cup chicken broth
1 8oz can tomato sauce
1/2 cup drained and coarsely chopped pimento-stuffed green olives
Topping
1 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 cups cold water
1 cup yellow cornmeal, preferably stone ground
2/3 cup shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese
Chopped fresh cilantro for garnish
For filling: heat oven to 350 degrees, with rack in center. Lightly oil a 11 1/2 by 8 in baking dish. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over med-high heat. Add chicken and cook until lightly browned, stirring occasionally, about 5 mins. Stir in onion, peppers and garlic, cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables soften, about 8 mins.
Sprinkle with flour and chili powder and stir. Stir in broth and sauce. Reduce heat to low and simmer until sauce is slightly thickened, about 5 mins. Stir in olives, season with salt to taste. Spread filling in baking dish.
For topping: bring broth to a boil in a med size saucepan over high heat. Whisk cornmeal and 1 1/2 cups cold water together in a med sized bowl, then whisk this mixture into the boiling broth. Reduce heat to med and cook, whisking often, until cornmeal is very thick. Spread cornmeal as evenly as possible over filling. Place baking dish on a large baking sheet. Bake uncovered until filing is bubbling, about 25 mins. Sprinkle with cheese, and bake until it melts, about 5 more mins. Let stand about 10 mins at room temp, garnish with cilantro and serve.
Adapted from Rick Rodgers recipe for Tamale Pie
If you try this out, please let us know how any variations work
Arroz Con Pollo - Rice with Chicken in Spanish is a traditional dish of Latin America. This one pot dish is so delicious, satisfying and comforting, it's no wonder it is a staple throughout Latin America. I have found a quick and easy way to make this stove top meal using a package of Vigo Yellow Rice. Vigo Rice is wonderfully flavored yellow rice that is seasoned with saffron, vegetables, tomatoes, salt and garlic. All that's left to do is saute all the vegetables you choose to add and the chicken, then cook all together to develop it's sweet and spicy delicious flavors. I love to add lots of vegetables to this dish to boost the flavors, color and nutritional value, making it a complete and healthful meal. Feel free to improvise with different vegetables, - red peppers work very well too. For the peas I used sugar snap peas I just bought from my local farmstand :)
Recipe:
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into approximately 1 1/2 -2 inch pieces
- 1 10 oz package Vigo Yellow Rice Mix
- 4 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 green pepper diced
- 1/2 spanish onion diced
- 2 carrots sliced
- 1 large russet potato peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 garlic glove minced
- 1 tomato diced
- 1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro chopped
- Use a large and deep skillet with a cover. Add 2 Tbsp olive oil to skillet and set to medium heat. Add pepper, onion, carrots and potato, sprinkle with salt and pepper and saute and stir until lightly golden. Add garlic and saute 30 seconds, then add tomato and saute 30 seconds. Remove vegetables from skillet and set aside.Add remaining olive oil to saute pan and cook chicken pieces, sprinkle with salt and pepper and brown on both sides, about 10 minutes. Then add to pan 1 3/4 cups water, package of Vigo Yellow Rice and sauteed vegetables.
- Stir and bring to a boil, then cover and reduce temperature to low and let simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add peas and cilantro during last 5 minutes of cooking, stir and cover pan, and let simmer 5 more minutes.
- Uncover pan and fluff rice and serve. Garnish with guacamole and sour cream if desired. Yield: serves 4-6
Enjoy!
