Tuna Pasta Salad

Well, the temperature has already hit the 30°C mark (that's 86°F) and it's only the middle of May. Time for some dinner salads and al fresco dining!

Ingredients:

2 cups penne pasta

2 - 170 g net/120 g drained canned albacore solid white tuna (about 8.5 oz)

1 cup diced tomatoes

2 tbsps fresh chopped parsley

1/2 English cucumber, diced

1 sweet red bell pepper, diced

1/2 cup diced feta

2 handfuls mixed greens

4 hardboiled eggs, halved

black olives

Dressing:

1/4 cup light olive oil

1/4 tsp lemon zest

juice of 1/2 a lemon

2 tbsps white wine vinegar

1/2 tsp dijon mustard

1/2 tsp honey

1/2 tsp garlic powder

salt and pepper or Mrs Dash table blend to taste

First of all I have to say, this is my earliest harvest of parsley ever. I picked this Italian parsley on May 12th!! Ok, back to the recipe.

Start by cooking the penne. Once cooked, drain and rinse in cold water and set aside. Prepare the hard boiled eggs and cut all the veggies. Drain the water from the tuna then break into chunks and drain in a colander.

That's most of the work! Just need to shake up the dressing and toss everything together.

Plate with eggs and black olives and you're done!

Ready for al fresco dining!

Serves 4

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Pork Meatball Stew

I usually don't care for a light coloured gravy, but this stew hits all the flavour points of a good French Canadian ragoût de boulettes, regardless of it's pale sauce!

Ingredients:

Meatballs:

1 lb ground pork

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

2 tbsps milk

1 egg

2-3 tsps minced garlic

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp dry thyme

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp onion powder

1 tbsps dry parsley

Stew:

2 tbsps butter

2 cups beef broth

3/4 cup milk

2 tsps dijon mustard

1 bay leaf

3 cups diced potatoes

1 medium carrot, sliced

1 cup diced turnip

2 tbsps cold water

2 tbsps flour

Combine the ground pork, panko, milk, egg, minced garlic, salt, pepper, allspice, thyme, cinnamon, onion powder and parsley. Take heaping tablespoons and roll into 1" balls. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes.

While the meatballs cook, put the rest of the stew together. Heat the broth, butter, milk and dijon together in a  large skillet. Add the bay leaf, potatoes, carrot and turnip. Bring to a boil, then simmer until vegetables are cooked, about 12-14 minutes. Combine 2 tbsps cold water with 2 tbsps flour. Add a little of the liquid from the warm stew, maybe 2 or 3 tbsps, to the water/flour mix, then whisk it all into the stew. Bring to a boil then simmer.

Add the meatballs and continue simmering 2-3 minutes. 

Remove the bay leaf and serve.

Serves 4

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Spaghetti, Burrata and Sausage

No heavy sauce, just pasta, tomatoes, some bright greens, a bit of sausage and fresh, creamy burrata. Summer, I know you're coming soon! 

Ingredients:

1/2 lb Italian sausage, mild or hot 

1 lb spaghetti

3/4 cup reserved pasta water

2 tbsps olive oil

pinch red pepper flakes

2 tsps minced garlic

1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes

2 cups packed baby spinach leaves

1 tbsp honey

1 cup frozen green peas, thawed

1 ball burrata cheese, at room temperature

juice of 1/2 a lemon

2 tbsps butter

salt and pepper to taste

Fresh basil leaves (wish I'd had some today but had to skip it)

and more baby spinach leaves to garnish

In a large skillet heat the olive oil to medium high. Remove the casings from the sausages and break up in the pan. Cook a few minutes until brown and just cooked through then remove to a plate. Reduce heat to medium low or low and add the garlic and red pepper flakes. Stir a few seconds before adding the tomatoes and honey. Stir together and cook until tomato skins start to burst. You can also pierce the tomatoes with a knife to release their juices. Cook 10-15 minutes.

While the tomatoes are doing their thing, cook the spaghetti until just a minute or 2 under the time required to cook it. Reserve 3/4 cup pasta water, then drain the spaghetti. Pour the pasta water in with the tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then simmer 2-3 minutes before adding the pasta and sausage and cooking an additional 2 minutes. 

With everything heated through, stir in the spinach, peas, butter and lemon juice and stir together for a couple of minutes.

Serve topped with burrata broken over the top, some fresh baby spinach leaves and salt and pepper to taste. Here's where fresh basil leaves would awesome!

Serves 4-6

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Poached Chicken and Bean Sprouts

Very tender chicken, crisp sprouts and celery in a light, savory Asian sauce.

Ingredients:

4 cups water

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

3 slices ginger

3 green onions, sliced

1 celery stalk, thinly sliced

Sauce:

3 tbsps vegetable oil

3 green onions, divided green and white parts

2 tbsps sodium reduced soya sauce

1/2 tsp brown sugar

1/2 cup reserved water from chicken

1 tbsp minced fresh ginger

handful of bean sprouts 

Bring the water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add ginger slices, green onion slices and the chicken breasts. Bring back to a boil, then cover and low boil for 10 minutes. After that, toss in the sliced celery. Turn the heat off, leave on the same burner and keep covered for another 15 minutes. After 15 minutes check for doneness, juices should run clear. If not bring to a boil again for a few minutes. Reserve 1/2 cup water, then remove chicken and slice onto plates. Leave celery slices in water for now.

To make the sauce, heat vegetable oil in skillet on low and add the white parts of the green onions. Cook until crispy and top the sliced chicken. Then to the same pan add soya sauce, brown sugar and reserved 1/2 cup water and bring to a boil. Add ginger and green slices of green onions, along with a handful of bean sprouts and cook for 1 minute. Spoon the celery slices onto one side of the chicken and add the bean sprouts and sauce onto the chicken and to the other side of the plate. 

Serves 2

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Asian Pork Vermicelli

A pound of ground pork, some vermicelli noodles and bunches of crunchy, fresh vegetables make this a go-to recipe favourite! And if you're a small family like ours you've got leftovers for days! 

Ingredients:

8 oz vermicelli

1 lb ground pork

1/2 cup reserved pasta water

1 red bell pepper, cut in strips

1 medium carrot, julienned

1 or 2 celery stalks, sliced

2 cups bagged coleslaw

2 cups bean sprouts

a handful of spinach, chopped

2 green onions, sliced, white and green divided

1 tsp minced garlic

1 egg, beaten

2 tsps fresh grated ginger

2 tsps dry basil

4 tbsps vegetable oil

Sauce:

4 tbsps fish sauce

3 tbsps brown sugar

3 tbsps chicken broth

2 tbsps white wine vinegar

3 tbsps sodium reduced soya sauce

1 tsp peanut butter

Sriracha or sweet chili sauce to serve

Cook the vermicelli, reserve 1/2 cup pasta water and drain, then toss with 1 tbsp vegetable oil. Set aside.

Mix the sauce ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.

In a large skillet or wok heat 2 tbsps oil and add the red pepper, carrot and celery. Cook 4-5 minutes then add the coleslaw, bean sprouts, spinach and the white slices of green onion. Cook for 2 minutes then remove from heat. Keep warm.

Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a large pan, add the pork and cook breaking it up until no pink remains. Add the garlic, ginger and basil and cook 1 minutes. Add the sauce and heat for 2 minute. Next push the meat to the sides, making a well in the center, and add the egg. Let it cook 1-2 minutes before stirring it in with the meat.

Add the vermicelli and vegetables and carefully stir together as the pan will be very full! Heat through about 2-3 minutes, adding pasta water as needed. Plate and garnish with green slices of green onions. You may want to drizzle with sriracha or sweet chili sauce.

Serves 6-8

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Potato Topped Meat Pie

Ugh... halfway through making two meat pies I realized I didn't have enough pie dough to top the second one. I quickly improvised with some mashed potatoes! 

Ingredients:

2 1/2 lbs ground meat (beef, pork and veal trio)

1 medium onion, diced

1 carrot, shredded

1/2 cup frozen green peas

1 apple, shredded

1/2 cup water

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp sage

1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs

And enough pie dough for 2 pies, or in this case 2 bottoms and 1 top. Two large Yukon gold potatoes, microwaved then mashed with butter and milk. (Or even better, leftover mashed potatoes!) Anyhooo...

Put all the ingredients for the tourtière (meat pie) in a large skillet and cook until the meat is no longer pink. Roll out the dough and place in bottoms of 2 - 8" pie plates. Fill with meat filling then roll out the top dough, wet edges and top, crimping to seal. Score the top so the air can escape.

For the second pie, spread the mashed potatoes over the meat. You can run a fork over the top if you want to get fancy! And sprinkle some paprika all over.

Then bake both at 425°F for 25-30 minutes.

Delicious cross between meat pie and shepherd's pie!

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PF Chang's Spicy Green Beans

This restaurant copycat recipe is an easy, spicy side you'll want to make over and over!  I used frozen beans to save a little time, but you can always use fresh for sure.

Ingredients:

750g bag (1 1/2 lbs) frozen, thawed green beans (or fresh trimmed)

2 green onions, sliced thinly

1 tsp red pepper flakes

4 tsps minced garlic

2 tbsps sesame oil

sesame seed to garnish

Sauce:

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

2 tbsps low sodium soya sauce

1 tbsp rice or white wine vinegar

1 tsp sugar

1/4 cup water

1/4 tsp cornstarch

First mix all the sauce ingredients, except the cornstarch, together and set aside.

Heat sesame oil in a wok or large skillet on medium high. Add the green onions, garlic and red pepper flakes, stirring for 30 seconds. Then add the green beans and stir together, cooking 3-4 minutes to heat through, a little longer if fresh. Push the beans to the outside of the pan making a well in the center. Add the cornstarch to the sauce and pour into the well. Bring to a boil then stir together with the beans. Cook 2-3 minutes. 

Serve topped with sesame seeds.

Serves 6-8

Adapted from a copycat recipe at: thegratefulgirlcooks.com

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