Asian Veggie Soup

Soup is one of those meals that I can't help ordering even if summer is in full swing outside. It is a staple of my diet all year long and I love to come up with some different ideas from standard chicken noodle and the Italian soups like Pasta Fagioli I ate growing up. I have tried to make Tom Yum soup a few times but I always get discouraged because it doesn't taste "right" and it takes so long and uses hard to find expensive ingredients. Sometimes its easier and cheaper just to order take out! This soup is a take on Tom Yum and other south east Asian soups but it uses  ingredients that are easier to find at the ethic market. Since I am a believer in sweating out the heat, this soup base is great for summer time!

I used boxed chicken broth to make this base but please feel free to take the homemade route and either make your own chicken stock or be even more traditional and go for a shrimp stock. If you are interested in making an authentic bowl of Tom Yum check out the directions on Chez Pim.  You can make a million different version of this soup - noodles or none, chicken, shrimp, veggies etc so feel free to add or subtract as you like...one of my favorite treats is pre-made frozen dumpings! The basic broth is really versatile and can pull together all those "why did I buy this?" ingredients that are starting to sag in the crisper drawer.

Click through for the recipe!

Cavatelli with lamb sausage and spinach

I haven't made it to an Easter at my parents in a while. Since the holiday is on a Sunday and you generally don't get the following Monday off, it makes it hard to be at my parents for dinner,  drive 5-7 hours and still make it to work the next morning. I was so excited when my boss gave us the day off for Good Friday and on my first day on the job! We were able to leave NY early and get to see my family an extra day. My mother even arranged Easter to begin as a brunch so that we would see everyone! We decided that we had to leave by two o'clock so that we wouldn't be getting home too late. This meant that we were going to miss the final dinner item - fresh cavatelli in home made sauce with sausages and meatballs. Luckily, I got my mom to pack me up a container of sauce and meat with some of the uncooked pasta before we left.

Once home we were too full and tired to make anything for dinner, but the next night I decided to switch things around. I had some lamb sausage in the freezer and since it is very traditional to eat lamb around Easter (and Passover which we celebrated a bit later in the week) I decided to use that for our dinner instead. This is an easy dish based on some thing I often make with chicken sausage, the lamb was amazing though! Flavorful little morsels between perfectly chewy bites of cavatelli gave the perfect savory bite. And we got to enjoy the sauce with some pasta another day!

Click through for the recipe

Not Your Mama's Nicoise Salad

This isn't really a Nicoise Salad - the French classic that combines potato, tomato, green beans, olives, boiled egg and tuna but its construction reminds me of it and so I can't help but group them together. Nicoise Salad is more meal than starter and it is the perfect lunch for a lazy afternoon. This is also the perfect dish to bring along to a BBQ because it beautifully balances out plate after plate of meaty bar-b-que goodness. You can include a meat like tuna in the original or grilled chicken in my version or just keep this strictly vegetarian.... there are so many ways to make this meal very complete!

This dish can be served warm (against the rules for the classic) just take care to have all the vegetables ready to go at once or prep in advance and store it chilled for an easier to serve option. Feel free to use my suggestions or you can always customize your salad based on what you have on hand. The only requirement is that it tastes delicious. This version is far from the traditional salad but that is what I love about it!

This salad included: (L to R)
Oven Roasted Beets
Sugar Snap Peas
Oven Roasted Moroccan Spiced Cauliflower
Mini Heirloom Tomatoes
Grilled Chicken Breast
Gorgonzola Cheese Crumbles
Scallion
Mini Baby Potatoes
Roasted Red and Yellow Peppers

and I served it with a Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette...click through for the recipe