Category: Pasta

Salmon Pasta Salad

If you follow my blog, you know how much I love turning leftovers into something fabulous. This salmon salad is no exception. Back on Succos, I prepared a huge portion of salmon and although delicious, I still had so much left over. Because salmon tends to get a bit fishy the next day, I wanted to serve it up in a way that I could mask some of its fishiness. And that’s how this recipe was borne.

This year, we go straight from Shabbos into Shavuous and I’m sure many of you are going to have lots of leftovers. And since not everyone has the luxury of leaving on their oven for 3 days, we’ve all got to make the most of what we’ve got. This recipe will take your leftover salmon from fishy to delicious! I’ve upped the ante for Shavuous by using soft Israeli cream cheese instead of mayonnaise. Make sure to bake your salmon in a pareve oven so you can make it dairy.


Salmon Pasta Salad

1 12 oz box bowtie pasta (reserve 2 tbsp cooking water)
2 slices leftover salmon (see note)
1/2 c peas, thawed
1 small red onion, diced (about 1/4 cup)
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp dill
1/4 cup soft Israeli cream cheese
salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

Prepare pasta according to package directions, making sure to reserve 2 tbsp of cooking water before draining. Add the pasta to a mixing bowl and stir in cream cheese while it’s still hot. Add pasta water 1 tbsp at a time to help thin out the cream cheese. Add remaining ingredients and mix to combine. Serve immediately.

Note: If you don’t have leftover salmon, you can use chunks of canned salmon or you can bake fresh. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Squeeze some fresh lemon on fish, sprinkle salt, and drizzle a little olive oil. Bake for 15 minutes.

Variation: For a pareve version, use mayo instead of cream cheese. Omit the pasta water.

1 year ago: black bean & chorizo chocolate chili

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Rice Vermicelli

Is your pantry filled with little bags of assorted leftover pasta? That extra orzo from when you only made half the box?  Or the scraps from the 10 oz. bag of egg noodles (whose recipe only called for 7 oz.)? Well luckily, I have a great recipe to use up your leftovers before Pesach! This Shabbos, you can turn your simple plate of rice into a two-toned pilaf that is just as pleasing on the palate as it is on the eyes! It’s simple, easy, and kids love it!

 

Rice Pilaf

2 cups white rice
3/4 cup fine egg noodles, spaghetti cut into pieces, orzo or other fine pasta
4 cups water or chicken stock
3-4 tbsp oil
2 tsp salt

Method:

Heat up oil in a saute pan and add pasta. Saute over medium heat, stirring constantly, until pasta is fragrant and golden. Watch the pasta carefully because it can quickly go from golden to burnt. Add the rice and stir for a minute or two. Add water or stock and salt and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

1 year ago: sesame linguini with marinated chicken breast

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Couscous with Thyme & Honey Roasted Root Vegetables


I came up with this dish when thinking of how to incorporate some simanim as well as fall vegetables like beets, carrots and parsnips into the Rosh Hashana meal. These root vegetables complement each other really well, and the addition of honey and thyme really rounds out the dish. If you’d like, you can leave out the couscous altogether, but I like the texture and how it turns purple from the beets. In fact, my kids call this “purple couscous” and they eat it by the bowlful.

This salad incorporates 3 simanim, beets, carrots, and honey. Serve it with fish or meat.

>Beets are called Silka, which is similar to Siluk, meaning removal. We ask Hashem that our adversaries be removed.

>Carrots have a dual meaning. In Yiddish, they are called Meren, meaning to increase. We ask Hashem to increase our merits.

>In Hebrew, carrots are Gezer,  meaning decree. We ask Hashem to judge us positively.

>Honey (as well as carrots) is eaten because of its sweetness. We ask Hashem to bless us with a sweet new year.

Couscous with Tyme & Honey Roasted Carrots, Parsnips and Beets

2 cups Israeli couscous
olive oil
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 tsp salt
2 carrots, diced
2 parsnips, diced (woody core removed, if desired)
2 beets, diced
olive oil
honey
thyme (fresh sprigs or dried)
freshly ground black pepper
kosher salt

Dressing:
2 tbsp honey
3 tbsp orange juice
3 tbsp light olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 heaping tbsp orange marmalade
1/4 tsp dried thyme
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste

Method:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a sheet pan, drizzle beets, parsnips and carrots with olive oil, honey, thyme, kosher salt, and pepper. Roast in the oven for 30-45 minutes, until tender and browned around the edges.

For the couscous, add a drizzle of oil to a pan and toast until browned. In a separate pot, boil stock with salt added. Pour stock into pan with couscous and simmer for 8 minutes. Cool.

For the dressing, whisk or blend in a food processor until emulsified.

To prepare, add vegetables to cooled couscous (make sure it’s cool otherwise it will absorb all the dressing) and pour dressing over right before serving. Garnish with fresh thyme.

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Tuna Pasta Salad

I love to make this salad for lunch when I have leftover pasta in the fridge. It’s a definite upgrade from a tired tuna sandwich! It also makes a great one-dish lite dinner. Experiment with pasta shapes – kids love them! If you have different types of leftover pasta, you can even do a fun mix. Any shaped pasta works well. Try wheels, shells, bowties, rotini, or cavatappi (like I used here).

In this recipe, I use a mixture of corn, red peppers, onions and hearts of palm. Feel free to play around with different veggies, or use whatever you have available in the fridge. Peas, cucumbers, celery, tomatoes, pickles, radishes, scallions and fresh dill are all good additions.

Tuna Pasta Salad

1/2 box shaped pasta
2 cans albacore tuna in water, drained (don’t flake, leave chunky)
1 11 oz. can corn niblets (do not drain)
1 red pepper, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
4 hearts of palm, chopped
1/2 cup mayo (or more, if needed)
squirt of mustard, optional
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp garlic powder
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste

Method:

Cook pasta according to package directions, drain and add to a bowl. Add tuna, corn (with liquid), peppers, onions and hearts of palm. Mix in mayo, mustard, lemon juice, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Add more mayo, if needed, to make it creamy. Chill and serve.

NOTE: Using the liquid from the canned corn helps make the pasta salad creamy. I use the Green Giant corn niblets which use less water. If you are using a different company, and the corn comes packed in a lot of liquid, use only about 1/8 of a cup of the liquid.

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Meat Lasagna

Growing up, we weren’t big dairy eaters. I think it had a lot to do with the milk allergies around the house. There was the occasional pizza, and the once-in-a-blue-moon fettucine alfredo. But on Shavuous, my mother went all out. She made the most delicious cheese blintzes, eggplant rollintini and her famous mouthwatering lasagna. We couldn’t get enough of it. The situation seems to be repeating itself in my house, having a daughter who is severely allergic to milk. We too have the occasional pizza, macaroni and cheese and cheese latkes. We reserve the other delicacies for that once-a-year milchig binge. But no-one can make lasagna like Ma’s, so I haven’t even tried. We always make sure we are free for her milchig meal so we can savor her delicious recipe!

Why am I rambling on about Ma’s milchig lasagna in a meat lasagna post? Well, since we absolutely LOVE the dairy recipe, I basically adapted it into a meat one that we can eat all year round! Of course nothing will ever replace the original, but this version is really delicious, and worth the effort (you’ll need a lot of pots to make it!) My kids just gobble it up, without even noticing the spinach!

Meat Lasagna

1 pkg lasagna noodles
2 lb. ground beef
1 medium spanish onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 red pepper, finely diced
1/2 yellow pepper, finely diced
1/2 green pepper, finely diced
20oz. frozen chopped spinach
3 15 oz. cans tomato sauce
2 12 oz. cans tomato paste
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Method:

Boil water for lasagna noodles. Add salt and a little oil to keep them from sticking. Cook no longer than al dente.

In a separate pot: saute onions and garlic, add peppers when onions are translucent.

In another pot, brown the meat, breaking it up as you go. Drain, return to pot and add sauteed onions and peppers.

In the microwave or pot, defrost the spinach (or take it out early and thaw in a strainer). Squeeze well to remove water.

Mix the tomato sauce, paste, sugar, salt, oregano, basil and pepper. Stir, over low heat, to smooth out and incorporate the tomato paste. Bring to a boil. Taste the sauce and adjust seasonings, if needed. Add spinach and simmer for 5 minutes.

Assemble the lasagna:

Start with a layer of noodles in a greased 9×13 pan, add the meat mixture and then tomato sauce mixture. Repeat. Top the last layer of noodles with the tomato sauce mixture.

Bake, covered, at 350 until the flavors have blended and the lasagna is piping hot (about 30-40 minutes).

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