Asian Pork & Pasta Salad

This is one of the best recipes I've picked up from my local Penzeys Spices. It has such a delicious marinade and is so fresh, I always end up making it often during the summer!

Here's the quote from the card: "Light and bright, fresh from the garden and the grill. Leftover grilled pork works great if you have it, just chop and toss with the marinade and proceed from there." We've also just marinated pork chops before, grilled them up and served them alongside the pasta salad as well... Enjoy!


Asian Pork and Pasta Salad
1 1/2 lbs. pork tenderloin
1 lb. pasta, your choice (we use farfalle)
1 lb. snap pea pods (we use edamame pods)
1 large leek
1 C sliced cherry tomatoes
3 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
2 tsp sesame oil (for stir-frying)

Marinade:
1/2 C soy sauce
1/4 C brown sugar
1/4 C rice vinegar
2 Tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp. aleppo (or white) pepper
1/4 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp powdered ginger
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Dressing:
1/2 C reserved marinade
2-3 Tbsp mayonnaise--enough to lightly thicken
2 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Whisk together marinade ingredients. Remove 1/2 cup, cover and refrigerate for dressing later. Cut pork into bite-sized pieces. Clean and chop the leek and the peas. Place pork in one bowl and the peas in another. Divide the leeks, half in each bowl. Pour all but 2 Tbsp of the marinade over the pork, toss well, cover and refrigerate. Toss the peas with the remaining marinade, cover and refrigerate both bowls for at least 15 minutes to develop flavor. Whisk mayo and sesame seeds with reserved marinade for dressing, and set aside. Clean and slice cherry tomatoes, set aside.

Bring water to a rolling boil in a large pot. Add pasta, cook according to directions on box, drain briefly, toss with fresh cilantro, cover and set aside. While pasta is cooking, heat sesame oil in a large skillet. When hot, add half of the pork. Cook until rich brown in color and cooked through. (The sugar in the marinade may cause the pork to blacken, so keep an eye on the pan and turn the heat down if necessary). Add the second half of the pork and cook. Discard the marinade that the pork was in. Once the pork is done, quickly stir-fry the peas, tossing in a bit of the marinade in the bowl. 2 minutes should do it...

Toss the peas and the pork with the pasta, add dressing and toss until coated. (You may not need all of the dressing). Top with sliced cherry tomatoes, a little more cilantro (if you love it like I do), and a sprinkle of extra toasted sesame seeds as desired.

Krista's Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

My friend Krista created her own copycat recipe of Olive Garden's Chicken and Gnocchi soup. We made it last night and it was terrific! The only thing I changed was to double the amount of chicken stock... Actually, I doubled the entire recipe, and then quadrupled the chicken stock. I did not, however, quadruple the amount of half-and-half, so it was more milky than chowder-y, but we really liked it that way :o)

Thanks for sharing, Krista!

Baked Ziti Spinach Casserole

This one always gets rave reviews... One of my friends thought it came from a restaurant :o)

Baked Ziti Spinach Casserole

1 lb. ground sausage

1 medium onion, chopped

3 large garlic cloves, minced

1 14-oz. can diced tomatoes

1/4 C pesto sauce

10 oz. ziti or penne pasta, cooked

8 C spinach leaves, stems cut off

6 oz. shredded mozzarella

1 C grated Parmesan cheese

2 Tbsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 375. Heat large saucepan over medium high heat. Add olive oil; saute onion and garlic until soft. Add sausage; cook until sausage is no longer pink. Add tomatoes with juice. Cook about 10 minutes. Stir in pesto; season everything with salt and pepper. Lightly oil 13x9 dish. Combine pasta, spinach, mozzarella, and 1/3 C Parmesan cheese in large bowl. Stir in hot tomato sauce; mix well to combine. Transfer mixture to prepared baking dish. Sprinkle remaining Parmesan cheese over top. Bake until bubbly, about 25-30 minutes.

Vegetable Lo Mein

This recipe is from a great book called "How to Cook without a Book" by Pam Anderson. It might sound counter-intuitive, but the whole point of the book is to teach you how to use variations on the same basic ingredients to come up with all kinds of different dishes. It's a wonderful resource--check and see if your library has it!

So... in keeping true to the book, you can change this recipe up--I've only ever used vegetables, but you can add chicken, beef, shrimp, pork or tofu (you'd cook it first before adding the veggies). I like to have Lo Mein as a side dish to complement whatever meat I'm using. You can try it with my Teriyaki Chicken or Jennie Call's Sweet & Sour Chicken...

Vegetable Lo Mein

2-3 cups vegetables, cut into bite-size pieces (I use any combination of broccoli, carrots, snow peas, mushrooms, bell peppers, etc)

1 onion, sliced into strips

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

1 1/2 tsp. fresh ginger, minced

1-2 Tbsp soy sauce

2-4 Tbsp vegetable oil

8 oz. spaghetti/linguini/fettuccine noodles, cooked

1 batch of Lo Mein sauce (see below)

**toasted sesame seeds (optional)

Heat a large skillet on high, then turn down to medium and add 1-2 Tbsp oil and onion. Cook for a minute until onion is a little soft and slightly browned. Then add your vegetables, one variety at a time, and cook till crisp-tender before adding the next group. When veggies are all in, add garlic and ginger and cook for 1 more minute. Then remove from heat and put veggies in a bowl.

Next, put the now-empty skillet back on the heat and add the rest of the oil. When the oil is shimmery, add noodles and stir-fry for a minute till coated and hot. Put the veggies back in, pour Lo Mein sauce over everything, mix well till coated, top with toasted sesame seeds if you want, and serve immediately!

Lo Mein Flavoring Sauce

1/4 C chicken broth

1/4 C soy sauce

2 tsp. rice vinegar

2 tsp. toasted sesame oil

1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1 tsp. sugar