The Cookbook Challenge Week 19 - Rice - Risoni Salad - 1 - $ - (V)

I'm assuming that you are sitting down while you read this post. I hope so, because I don't want the shock of me having cheated a little bit and not strictly followed this week's Cookbook Challenge recipe to be too much for you.

This week the theme is rice, so I decided to use risoni instead. Risoni are little pieces of pasta in the shape of rice and are the basis of a Curtis Stone salad in the current issue of delicious magazine (April 2010). In the magazine it is a side dish, however I decided to add some tuna to bulk it up and serve it as a main meal.

The following quantities will serve 4 as a side or 2, and some leftovers for lunch, if you use the tuna and have it as a main meal.


Ingredients

1 red capsicum, quartered
250gm punnet of vine-ripened cherry tomatoes
2tbs olive oil
1 eschalot, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 1/3 cups risoni pasta
3 cups stock, chicken or vegetable, heated
1/2 telegraph cucumber, peeled, seeds removed, chopped
1 cup rocket leaves
185gm tin of good quality tuna (optional)

Vinaigrette
1 eschalot, finely chopped
1tbs red wine vinegar
2tbs extra virgin olive oil
2tbs roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley

Preheat oven to 200C degrees.
Place capsicum on a tray lined with baking paper. Curtis says to roast them for 10 minutes, but I roasted for double this as I wanted the peppers to be very soft.
Remove the tray from the oven, add the tomatoes and drizzle with 1 tbs of the oil and season. Roast for another 5 minutes or until the tomato skins split and the peppers are blistered. Place the peppers in a plastic bag for about 10 minutes. The skins should then just come right off.
Slice the peeled peppers and put them and the tomatoes in a large bowl.
Meanwhile heat 1tbs olive oil in a deep non-stick fry pan, over a medium heat. Cook the eschalot for 2 minutes then add the garlic and cook stir for another 2 minutes. Add the risoni and stir to coat in the oil. Pour in the hot stock, bring to a simmer and then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally until the risoni is cooked and then drain off any excess stock. Spread the risoni out on a tray and let cool.
For the vinaigrette place all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine.
Add the risoni, cucumber, tuna and rocket to the bowl with the other ingredients. Drizzle on the vinaigrette and gently toss to combine all the ingredients and coat in the dressing.

Despite these seemingly endless instructions, this is actually a quite quick meal to prepare as you can do lots of steps at the same time. I served my risoni warm, rather than letting it cool.
I would definitely make this salad again but next time I will use a yellow pepper to add some more colour and maybe use some fresh salmon rather than tuna.

Enjoy!

Niçoise Salad - 2 - $

A wise man once said, 'You don't win friends with salad.'
An even wiser woman (that's me), says 'We'll see about that!'

This salad is a definite winner. The amounts below will feed two people as a main, or a at least four people as a side.



Ingredients

6-8 Cocktail potatoes, scrubbed and halved
2 Eggs
185gm can of tuna in olive oil
Lettuce of your choice, washed and roughly chopped
8 Cherry tomatoes halved
1/2 Red onion, finely sliced
1 Lebanese cucumber, sliced into rounds and halved
10-12 Green beans, ends removed and halved
12 Black olives
Mayonnaise (I like the Japanese Kewpie mayo)
Red wine or Balsamic vinegar

Boil the eggs to your liking, not too soft in the middle though.
In a separate pot boil the potatoes in salted water for about 5-7 minutes, piercing with a fork to test they are cooked. Before taking the potatoes off the heat, drop the beans in to blanch for 30 seconds and then drain all the veg at once.
In the meantime, place all the salad veg in a large bowl. Drain half the oil from the tuna (the rest will be part of the dressing) and then add to the bowl, breaking it into small pieces with a fork.
Add all the cooked ingredients and olives, and then a generous splash of vinegar and a good couple of tablespoons of mayonnaise. Mix gently to combine all ingredients and serve while the potatoes and eggs are still warm.

Enjoy!

Cheat's Tuna Pasta - 1 - $

Put your hand up if you're all for non-cooking on hump day...well this one's for you.

This dish is so quick and easy it barely rates as 'making' dinner, the sauce will be ready in the time that it takes to cook the pasta.



Ingredients

Pasta of your choice
185gm can of tuna in oil (Italian style is good, you're making pasta after all)
Jar of good quality tomato based pasta sauce
6-8 Button mushrooms, sliced
12-15 Kalamata olives, halved
100gm baby spinach leaves
Capers and thinly sliced marinated peppers (optional)
Parmesan to serve

Put the pasta on to cook.
In a medium sized pot fry the mushrooms off in a bit of the oil from the tuna. Cook them for 5-7 minutes and then add the olives. Drain the rest of the oil from the tuna and add that to the pot to warm through. Pour in the sauce and a minute before the pasta is ready add the spinach (and capers/peppers) and stir through until it wilts.
Spoon the sauce over your pasta, top with shaved Parmesan and serve.

Enjoy!