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Food and A Party!
Last Saturday Sebastian's best friend from school, his older brother, and his parents came over to the house for a cookout.
I thought that it went really well. The kids had a ton of fun, playing out in the back yard and later inside with the Wii. The parents are really nice, good to talk to. And I was very pleased with how the food came out.
For one thing, I tried some new meat. Teri suggested I go to Market Basket in Bellingham for supplies; once again I was impressed at how much cheaper they are than Stop & Shop. On a whim I bought their store brand of Black Angus ground beef, 85% lean. It made the best burgers I've ever grilled.
We also made a pasta salad. It's a recipe that my mother found or made up; as I've mentioned before, she's a wonderful cook. The problem is that there weren't any solid measurements for the salad, so we didn't actually have a recipe to work with. My mother can throw things together by eye and make something amazing, but I need a bit more information than that!
I had some theories on what to do, so here's what we worked out:
Start this recipe at least six hours before the salad is going to be served. This is important.
Place the olive oil in a very large bowl. Use a garlic press to squeeze the garlic into the oil; it's okay to scrape the inside of the press and throw the shreds of garlic into the oil, too (of course the skins should be removed before the garlic is pressed). Stir with a spoon.
If you want to do something else for a while, you can let an hour or two go by while the oil absorbs the flavor of the garlic.
Dice or chop the tomatoes. Pretty much any kind of tomato is fine, although of course it's tough to chop up cherry tomatoes. The goal is to make smallish pieces, enough of them so that there will be a good amount of tomato in every spoonful of pasta salad. Put the diced tomatoes into the garlic-oil, and stir them to coat them well.
Again, you can take a break and let this sit for a while if you have something else to do.
Throw in a palmful of salt. This might be a tablespoon, perhaps a little more; it's really a matter of taste. You can add more salt later if need be, although you want to be able to give it a little time to dissolve in the oil. If you don't add enough salt, the salad won't taste good.
Boil the rotini, and rinse it if you want to. Let it cool for at least a little while (say, at least 15 minutes; you don't want it to start cooking the salad, but it's okay if it's warm when you add it in). Put the rotini into the bowl (I hope it was a big bowl) and stir it well to coat everything with the oil-garlic mixture.
Do not refrigerate. Cover the bowl with saran wrap and let sit at room temperature for several hours. This allows the garlic flavor to mellow, and the flavor of all the ingredients to mix. The oil will turn pink-red from the tomatoes. This is fine.
After a few hours, taste the pasta (stir it up before tasting) and see if you need to add more salt.
The pasta will have a fairly intense garlic flavor. This slowly mellows over time; the salad will actually taste better the second day than it did on the first. After the first day (or first six hours or so), cover the salad in the bowl and refrigerate it. It should keep for several days.
Incidentally, although the garlic flavor is strong, for some reason it doesn't leave you with strong garlic breath. I'm not sure why; maybe it's the olive oil.
I thought that it went really well. The kids had a ton of fun, playing out in the back yard and later inside with the Wii. The parents are really nice, good to talk to. And I was very pleased with how the food came out.
For one thing, I tried some new meat. Teri suggested I go to Market Basket in Bellingham for supplies; once again I was impressed at how much cheaper they are than Stop & Shop. On a whim I bought their store brand of Black Angus ground beef, 85% lean. It made the best burgers I've ever grilled.
We also made a pasta salad. It's a recipe that my mother found or made up; as I've mentioned before, she's a wonderful cook. The problem is that there weren't any solid measurements for the salad, so we didn't actually have a recipe to work with. My mother can throw things together by eye and make something amazing, but I need a bit more information than that!
I had some theories on what to do, so here's what we worked out:
- 2 pounds of rotini, to be cooked al dente
- 1 small bottle (approx. 16 oz.) good quality extra virgin olive oil (the best you can find or afford; we used Goya this time, it wasn't bad)
- Several ripe tomatoes (again, the best you can find/afford), sufficient to make about 3-4 cups of diced tomatoes (you can use diced or petite diced canned tomatoes if you must)
- 1 palmful of salt (sea salt or kosher salt would be best)
- 4 cloves of garlic
Start this recipe at least six hours before the salad is going to be served. This is important.
Place the olive oil in a very large bowl. Use a garlic press to squeeze the garlic into the oil; it's okay to scrape the inside of the press and throw the shreds of garlic into the oil, too (of course the skins should be removed before the garlic is pressed). Stir with a spoon.
If you want to do something else for a while, you can let an hour or two go by while the oil absorbs the flavor of the garlic.
Dice or chop the tomatoes. Pretty much any kind of tomato is fine, although of course it's tough to chop up cherry tomatoes. The goal is to make smallish pieces, enough of them so that there will be a good amount of tomato in every spoonful of pasta salad. Put the diced tomatoes into the garlic-oil, and stir them to coat them well.
Again, you can take a break and let this sit for a while if you have something else to do.
Throw in a palmful of salt. This might be a tablespoon, perhaps a little more; it's really a matter of taste. You can add more salt later if need be, although you want to be able to give it a little time to dissolve in the oil. If you don't add enough salt, the salad won't taste good.
Boil the rotini, and rinse it if you want to. Let it cool for at least a little while (say, at least 15 minutes; you don't want it to start cooking the salad, but it's okay if it's warm when you add it in). Put the rotini into the bowl (I hope it was a big bowl) and stir it well to coat everything with the oil-garlic mixture.
Do not refrigerate. Cover the bowl with saran wrap and let sit at room temperature for several hours. This allows the garlic flavor to mellow, and the flavor of all the ingredients to mix. The oil will turn pink-red from the tomatoes. This is fine.
After a few hours, taste the pasta (stir it up before tasting) and see if you need to add more salt.
The pasta will have a fairly intense garlic flavor. This slowly mellows over time; the salad will actually taste better the second day than it did on the first. After the first day (or first six hours or so), cover the salad in the bowl and refrigerate it. It should keep for several days.
Incidentally, although the garlic flavor is strong, for some reason it doesn't leave you with strong garlic breath. I'm not sure why; maybe it's the olive oil.