Tri-Colour Italian Pasta Salad

I wish I could claim this one but, to be honest, even though I made it, it came from an Epicure cookbook. Dining Alfresco (which I've made a surprising number of things out of now that I've paged through it again).

4 c bite-sized pasta (I used rotini as it is my pasta salad pasta of choice)
2 c broccoli florets
1 recipe prepared VE Verde Vinaigrette
1 red bell pepper, coarsely diced
1 green bell pepper, coarsely diced
2 c halved cherry tomatoes
1 c cubed mozzarella cheese
Sea salt and pepper to taste

Cook the pasta al dente.
Steam the broccoli until tender crisp and refresh under cold water. Drain and set aside.
Whisk Verde Vinaigrette into large bowl and toss with the rest of the ingredients to coat. Season as you wish.

I'm going to make this tomorrow for my lunches over the next couple of days.
K,J

Epicure Caesar Dressing

This is just the workhorse dressing from the side of the bottle. Very rarely do I actually add the extra garlic to this recipe, although sometimes I do.

2 Tbsp VE Caesar Dressing Mix
2 Tbsp mayonnaise
2 crushed garlic cloves
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 c olive oil
1/4 c milk
1/4 c parmesan cheese

Whisk it all together and serve. If you're doing it in advance, just don't add the parmesan until the last minute because it soaks up a lot of the liquid and you won't be able to pour it without adding more milk.

If at first you don't succeed...

..make the Herb & Garlic Cheddar Biscuits again. I set the timer for 20 minutes because 30 minutes at 450F seemed like a hellaciously long time. Well, 20 minutes was still too long but they were definitely edible this time. Next time I'll check at 15 minutes and go from there.

Anyway, to go along side with that I cooked up some packaged gnocchi that I had in the fridge (did I ever mention that making gnocchi from scratch is on my 100 list?). I also melted 2 T butter into a little saucepan and then whisked in about a T of flour, maybe a little more. After it cooked a little bit I added about 3/4 c of milk and 2 T (thereabouts) of Epicure Caesar Dressing Mix and simmered it for a couple of minutes until it started to thicken.

I piled the gnocchi into a couple of whiteware baking dishes, truth be told, it would have worked better to make three of them. The sauce had thickened a little too much so I whisked in about another half cup of milk and then about 1/4 c of parmesan cheese and poured it over the gnocchi. I sprinkled it with bacon bits because I didn't have any real live bacon (that would have completely rocked it) and then threw it into the oven that was still hot from the biscuits for a couple of minutes.

After I pulled the pasta out, I grated a little bit of pecorino cheese over the top of it and served it with buttered biscuits. A little salad with vinaigrette would have finished it off perfectly but it wasn't to be tonight.

A Foccaccia... (Bread, It's Bread)

So I call Erin around 5 to tell her how amazing this stuff smells. I'm referring to the combination of yeast, olive oil and Foccaccia Spices from Epicure.

I start this post around 5:40 because it's finished rising and my mouth is still watering from the smell and I would feel silly calling Erin to say "It still smells amazing, just thought you'd want an update".

I've got a little bit of olive oil in a dish, a couple of drops of balsamic vinegar in it. I've got a caesar salad using the Epicure recipe. I'm going to be breathing fire all night! I was told once that if everyone eats the same garlic-y meal, it doesn't smell strong to them.

Dissolve 2 packets of yeast with 1 T sugar and 1 c warm water for about 5 minutes. Soak 1/4 cup Foccacia Herbs in 1/3 c olive oil and 3/4 c hottish water, let it cool to lukewarm, add 2 t salt and mix it with the yeast. Add 4 cups of flour, a cup at a time, and knead for about 4 minutes (I used my dough hook). Put it on a baking sheet that has been liberally spread with olive oil and sprinkled with cornmeal (I skipped that ingredient obviously). Let it rise for 40 minutes and then bake it at 425 for 20-25.

Things that I would change: I'd use a little less flour and a little more oil in the preparation of it. I would also use my stone, I had no idea that it was going to be that big although 4 cups of flour and the huge amount of yeast might have given it away. If I was using my stone, I would put it in with the bread cold, because I baked mine on a cookie sheet at 425 for 20 minutes and the bottom was a little too close to burnt for my tastes.

So, dipped in olive oil didn't work for me this time but Oh Lordy, dipped in Caesar salad dressing is something else entirely.