Artichoke Pasta Salad

A delicious pasta salad goes great with almost any meal.  For me, they shine most next to a grilled burger on a warm summer evening.  This recipe has loads of flavor but you can easily add more ingredients to hit the spot just right.  Rage on.

Dressing

1. 2 T and 1 tsp. Sugar
2. 1/2 tsp. Granulated Garlic
3. 1/2 tsp. Italian Seasoning
4. 1 T Fresh Parsley, rough chop
5. 1 T Red Wine Vinegar
6. 1 T Water
7. 1/2 tsp. Salt and Pepper
8. 4 T Olive Oil

Whisk all ingredients together except the olive oil.  Slowly add the olive oil while whisking to blend.

Ingredients

1. 1/2 of a 12oz. package of Tri-color Rotini Pasta
2. 14oz. can of Artichoke Hearts(quartered or whole)
3. 1/2 Red Pepper

Quick Directions

1. Cook the pasta to al dente, cool.
2. Dice half of a red pepper.
3. Rinse the artichoke hearts well, then rough chop.
4. Whisk Dressing together.
5. Toss all ingredients together except for the dressing.
6. Add dressing and mix well.  Make sure to mix before serving as the dressing will settle at the bottom.
7. Enjoy!

Start by cooking the pasta.  Get a pot of water boiling, add a couple of pinches of salt to that water.  Toss the pasta in and cook for about 8-9 minutes.  Pull one out and taste it, if its still got a small amount of crunch and isn’t complete mush then we are ready to rock.  Drain the water and rinse in cool water or put it into the refrigerator to cool it down.

While the pasta is cooling down, go ahead and get the pepper and artichoke hearts washed.  Especially rinse the artichokes well to get that briny can taste washed out.  Dice them up, the hearts can be roughly chopped but try to keep the red pepper dice uniform.  Make sure you remove the seeds and the middle part of the pepper as well as nobody wants to eat that.

Follow the above directions for the dressing.  Just make sure to add the olive oil last and to slowly add it in while whisking.  This will help the dressing to emulsify, or basically get the oil and vinegar to combine.  You don’t want the dressing separating!

That is pretty much the hardest part of this recipe.  Once all of these steps are completed, start by putting everything into a bowl except for the dressing and tossing till well mixed.  Then add the dressing and toss again to get everything well coated.  I like to let the dressing soak into the rest of the salad so I like to have it on at least 30 minutes before serving, and then give it another stir right before serving to get the dressing that settled back in play.  If you are making this a day ahead, don’t be afraid of all the dressing settling, just give it a stir 30 minutes before serving and then again right before and it should be a rage.

Other Thoughts

This salad is light and the fresher the ingredients the better.  Feel free to use fresh artichokes if you know how to properly clean them and have the time to add that into your prep.  Some other great items to add are garbanzo beans, black olives, and sunflower seeds.  Feel free to experiment and take a chance.  If it doesn’t turn out like you hoped, don’t tell anybody about  it and omit it next time!  Fresh herbs are never going to hurt this salad either.  Think fresh basil and oregano….yum.  If you decide to add any of these ingredients, just start small because you can always add when you think it needs more but you can never take it out.  Rage on!

Reese’s Pieces Cookies

Peanut butter cookies with Reese’s Pieces.  A tasty treat from an easy recipe.  Rage on.

Ingredients

1. 1/2 Cup Peanut Butter(I used crunchy but smooth works too)
2. 1/2 Cup Butter(1 stick), Softened
3. 1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
4. 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
5. 1 Egg
6. 1/2 tsp. Vanilla
7. 1/4 tsp. Salt
8.  1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
9. 1 1/4 Cups All-purpose Flour
10. 1 Cup Reese’s Pieces

Quick Directions

1. Mix peanut butter and butter together until well mixed.
2. Add both sugars, egg, and vanilla. Mix together.
3. Gradually add remaining ingredients, except the Reese’s Pieces, until all is mixed together.
4. Fold in Reese’s Pieces.
5. Roll into 1-1.5” balls and place on a baking pan lined with parchment paper.
6. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
7. Remove from oven and immediately place on cooling racks.
8. Enjoy!

Detailed Directions

Start by mixing the peanut butter and butter together.  Your butter should be softened, and a good tip applicable in most baking is to just sit the butter and eggs you plan to use out on the counter for a bit to allow them to warm up.  Same applies with cream cheese unless the recipe states otherwise.

I used a stand mixer to make these, but never fear as this isn’t needed.  You can use a hand mixer or mix it by hand with a whisk if you don’t have the other two options.  For using a mixer, use a flat beater and mix at medium high(speed 6) for about a minute or until smooth.  I usually stop and scrape the sides about halfway through.  The same would apply to a hand mixer.  If you are using your hands for this, whip until the ingredients are smooth.
Next add the sugars, the egg, and the vanilla.  Use medium(speed 4) and mix about 1 minute.  Scrape the bowl again, set to stir or equivalent on your mixer and gradually add the remaining ingredients except for the Reese’s Pieces.  Once everything is in, increase to low(speed 2) and mix another 30 seconds.  If doing it by hand, add a portion of the flour, whisk, repeat until all is added.
Once everything is mixed up, add the Reese’s Pieces and use a spatula or large spoon to gently fold the candy into the dough.  And get ready to get dirty.


Roll the dough into 1-1.5” balls and place on parchment lined baking sheets.  You don’t have to be perfect either.  I ended up with 14 large cookies following this recipe, but if you are looking for smaller snacks, you can easily make your balls smaller.


Once you have them rolled out, place in the oven at 375 and bake for 10-12  minutes or until they are golden brown.  I actually like to pull them when the center is still slightly undercooked.  This isn’t a bad thing as they will continue to cook for about a minute once they are out of the oven.  Plus, it leads to a softer cookie which I enjoy more.
After you have them out, place them onto wire cooling racks immediately.  If you don’t have cooling racks, it won’t kill them.  Just simply transfer them to another pan that hasn’t been in the oven to help stop the cooking process and allow them to cool faster.

There are a lot of ways you can adjust these.  Simple things like using smooth peanut butter instead of the crunchy is one way.  Removing the Reese’s Pieces altogether and  just having a peanut butter cookie.  Or change it up with some peanut butter chips for a nice addition.  Make a choice, follow through, and enjoy the rage.

Bulgogi

Bulgogi is a traditional Korean Barbeque dish.  I decided this was something I had to try after hearing of it from a friend.  I wasn’t disappointed and you won’t be either.  It is typically cooked on a grill so don’t be afraid to give that a go.  I, however, decided to cook it in the wok and was overwhelmed with the copious amounts of flavor this recipe delivered.  Plus, its pretty simple and straight forward.  Rage on.

Marinade

1. 3 Garlic Cloves, minced
2. 1 t Garlic Chili Sauce
3. 2 T Sesame Oil
4. 3 T Sugar
5. 2 T Rice Cooking Wine
6. 4 T Soy Sauce
7. 1 t Ground Ginger
8. 1/2 t Pepper

Ingredients

1. 1 lb. Beef, Traditionally it is done with sirloin or other prime cuts of beef.  I chose a chuck steak roast too use.  The cheaper cuts are ok, but you typically want to marinade them longer to help the meat find a more tender texture.
2. 1/4 Onion, sliced
3. 1 Cup Carrot, sliced
4. 2 Green Onions, sliced

Quick Directions

1. Freeze  beef for 20-30 mins, then slice thin.  Cut against the grain.
2. Slice 1/4 of an onion, carrots, and green onion.
3. Whisk marinade ingredients together, toss beef, carrots, onions, and green onions in marinade.  Make sure everything is well coated.
4. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.  For cheaper cuts of meat, marinade longer.  Overnight is just fine.
5. Cook in wok on high heat for 10-15  minutes or internal temp of 165.
6. Serve over rice, enjoy!

Detailed Directions

Start by finding that perfect cut of meat.  I went with a 1 lb. chuck roast because I liked the looks of the cut.  The next step is to slice the beef thin.  Placing it in the freezer for 20-30 minutes will help you get it that extra thin slice we want.  However, you should be able to find meat already cut at your local Asian food store if your afraid to cut it yourself.


You want to cut against the grain.  This is actually really important because if you don’t the meat will be chewy.  I’m not the best at figuring out which way the grain is going on a piece of meat like what I used.  So I just did my best and you shouldn’t be afraid to do the same.


Once the beef is cut, set it aside and slice the onions, carrots and green onions.  For this recipe, it isn’t really important how pretty they are sliced.  Just try to keep them all the same size.



Toss everything into the marinade and make sure its coated well.  Since I was using a cheaper cut of meat, I got in there with my hands and made sure it was all covered.  I wrapped it and marinated for an hour in the refrigerator.  I was impatient and hungry, otherwise I would have given it a few hours to allow that flavor to really find its way into the meat.

Now the fun part!  Toss it in your wok on high and let the cooking begin.  This is typically done over a grill though, so if you have a grill pan(which I did not) then use that or even better yet, cook it on the grill if you have the proper pan to use in that situation.


Keep stirring and  flipping until all of the red color is gone from the meat.  This should take about 10-15 minutes and because the meat is so thin, you will know its done once all of the color is cooked out.  If you are a worrier, get out the thermometer and look for a temp of 165.


Dish it out over a bed of rice and serve.  And don’t forget to enjoy!

Typically this is done on a grill, but you can always improvise when needed.  The marinade provides a sweet and flavorful product with just a hint of heat.  I rather enjoyed making this dish and plan to figure out a way to make it into a burger next…because everything is awesome as a burger.  Hey, remember to rage on!