I’m a sucker for all those cheesy and fried appetizers I’ve been seeing especially with Superbowl Sunday coming up this weekend. I wanted to share an option like these Cucumber Roll Ups that are easy to do that offers a healthy option and can also feed those who are gluten free, vegetarian, even vegan.
Cucumber Roll ups
Green Beans with Walnut and Feta and Mint Vinaigrette
When I realized that I had way too much feta from my Costco order which I had delivered via Instacart (which I’ve raved about before for bringing me needed items at the last minute right to my door – and I don’t need a Costco membership), I immediately thought of this recipe for Green Beans with Walnut and Feta and Mint Vinaigrette for the next potluck at work in order to help use it up.
I had the recipe idea pinned from The Kitchen is My Playground for a while, with it’s intriguing promise of fun textures of the firm green beans, walnuts, and feta while highlighting a fresh mint vinaigrette.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-2 inch or so pieces
- 3/4 cup of diced red onion
- 1 cup of chopped walnuts
- 1 cup of crumbled feta cheese
- 3/4 cup of olive oil
- 1/4 cup of white wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup of minced fresh mint leaves
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper or to taste
Directions:
- Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Add the cut 1 1/2 pounds of green beans and cook for only 3 minutes – we want it to turn bright green only. Drain the hot water and immediately plunge the green beans into ice water to stop the cooking process. Drain again and pat dry with paper towels.
- In a mixing bowl set the dried blanched green beans. Add the 1 cup walnuts, 3/4 cup diced red onion, and 1 cup crumbled feta; toss to combine.
- In a food processor combine the 3/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup white wine vinegar, 1/4 minced fresh mint, 3 cloves worth of minced garlic, salt, and pepper for 30 seconds or so.
- Add the dressing to the mixing bowl and toss everything. Chill for about an hour before serving.
So this salad was definitely great for lunch for a couple days… great for the potluck for a group as it was easy to transport to work and leave out. For later lunches it was a nice crispy side of veggies and nuts with a bit of acid to balance out a grilled cheese sandwich.
Lemony Spinach and Pasta Salad with Cherry Tomatoes and Feta
At work, I organize a quarterly potluck for my team in Oregon as a way for us to have time to decompress from our normal lunch routines and work day by socializing together, talking about how our projects are going and how our lives are going to connect professionally and personally. So, I’m always looking out for dishes that I can contribute that can be prepped at home the day before, can be cold or room temperature, and can be vegetarian and nut-free to accommodate some dietary restrictions. This Lemony Spinach and Pasta Salad with Cherry Tomatoes and Feta Recipe is one I prepared last time.
So I can definitely tell you from experience that this dish is very easy to make, quick to prepare, and substantial enough to feed a group when you don’t know what everyone else is bringing. In this case I used vegetable pasta, but you can use regular pasta if you wish or gluten-free pasta, and you can use a variety of pasta shapes.
If you want to make this dairy-free as well you can cut out the feta for chopped olives instead to still have bit of slight salty kick and Mediterranean feel. For me, I served the feta on the side so people could choose whether to add it or not. You can also consider adding slivered almonds for texture, or if you want protein some diced grilled chicken.
Lemony Spinach and Pasta Salad with Cherry Tomatoes and Feta Recipe
Ingredients:
- 12 ounces pasta – penne, rotini, elbow, farfalle shapes all would work well, a shape you can stab with a fork
- 4 cups baby spinach (approximately – I used 4 handfuls!)
- 3 1/2 cups heirloom cherry tomatoes, halved – I like using both red and yellow tomatoes here. Alternately, you could use red tomatoes and for yellow add in some bell pepper.
- 1 1/2 cups crumbled feta cheese
- 7 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 tablespoons lemon juice (approximately a juice of a large lemon)
- 3 tablespoons whole grain mustard
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
- Salt, to taste
- Pepper, to taste
Directions:
- First, cook your pasta in a pot of salted water until al dente and drain. Immediately rinse with ice cold water to cool the pasta, drain well and place in a large container that has room to toss in the other ingredients. I honestly had to use 2 mixing bowls, and then my final serving vessel to take to the potluck was a big 13×9 casserole dish from my mother-in-law.
- Now, add your 4 cups of baby spinach and the 3 1/2 cups of halved heirloom cherry tomatoes. You can also add in your 1 1/2 cups crumbled feta cheese now, or hold off and serve the feta on the side as an optional addition.
- In a bowl, whisk the 7 tablespoons of olive oil, 4 tablespoons of lemon juice, 3 tablespoons of whole grain mustard, 2 minced garlic cloves, and 2 teaspoons of grated lemon peel. Season with salt and pepper to your liking.
- Pour the dressing and now toss everything! Now you can put this in the fridge and you are all set to take it to your potluck or gathering the next day, and you can serve this cold or room temperature.
I like how the dressing has the brightness of the lemon, but a bit of bite from the garlic and bit of spiciness from the mustard. The bursts of cherry tomatoes and creamy slight salt from the feta make this a good flavor combination. The colors of the green, red, yellow and white looks great, and it’s healthy to make up for the inevitable stack of sweets that show up at a potluck, am I right?
This recipe is adapted from one on Epicurious for Lemon Pasta Salad with Tomatoes and Feta, but I added the spinach and ignored the bell peppers as I was upping the cherry tomatoes instead. Other versions I have seen include a Lemon Pasta Salad recipe from Food Network by the Neelys that use the same dressing but add asparagus, peas, and dill leaves instead of the spinach, so this is a very versatile pasta salad recipe.
I bought my cherry tomatoes, spinach, and feta from Costco – which meant I now had the unexpected consequence of a LOT of feta since the container was so large. I chose to use the feta in another potluck dish I’ll share in a future post.
Do you have a go to recipe for a potluck? What do you make?
Ravioli with Corn Sauce Recipe
I can’t believe it’s already November. I haven’t posted a recipe here since August! I admit though, I haven’t been cooking as much at home and have been dining out a lot because of my hectic days in September and October. And now, here we are approaching the holidays. Honestly though as soon as it turns November I think I am in holiday mode. It’s the time of year that people all reach out to their family and friends to try to connect and celebrate, which means it’s great rationalization to try new recipes out.
At the farmers market there is still some corn left, and so I hurried to make this recipe. The use of corn here is the main sauce, almost like a pesto recipe but using corn instead of basil (although there is still plenty of basil, just not in the sauce itself!). F really liked this dish because it wasn’t super cheesy, and I liked celebrating corn while it’s about to finish its season. It also takes advantage of the last of the cherry tomatoes before it’s time to batten down the hatches.
The original recipe comes from Lillian Julow in Gainesville Florida that I saw in Taste of Home. That original recipe includes bacon and uses bacon drippings with fettuccine, so you might want to check out her version if you are not vegetarian and that intrigues you.
But to make it vegetarian instead I swapped it out by using grilled corn kernels. If using fresh corn is too time consuming for you, use thawed frozen corn and roast it in a skillet with a little butter until the corn just begins to brown.
I love the colors of this dish too.
Ingredients:
- 20 ounces of refrigerated ravioli (I used Giovanni Ravioli Caprese Duet, in your refrigerated section, this one is stuffed with either basil pesto or caprese and mozzarella, and offers two colors, green and white! I’m a fan of the various ravioli of this brand as there are many options, such as also their artichoke, mushroom, chicken rosemary and more)
- 4 cups fresh corn kernels after being grilled in the husk (or you could use thawed frozen corn as well)
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon dill weed
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese plus additional to taste
- 1/3 cup unsalted toasted almonds (I recommend toasting them yourself as it tastes better and makes the house smell wonderful. Always make extra because you will snack on some)
- 1/3 cup olive oil for the pasta sauce, plus an extra drizzle on the pasta
- 1 cup of fresh basil chiffonade (see here how to chiffonade a basil leaf)
- Two handfuls or so of grape tomatoes, cut in half
Directions:
- Cook the ravioli in boiling water for a couple minutes and then drain from water and toss with a quick drizzle of olive oil so the pasta does not stick. Reserve at least a cup or so of the pasta water to marry the sauce later.
- In a skillet, melt 1 tablespoon of butter. After removing the corn from the cob after grilling it, or after thawing your frozen corn kernels, add it to the melted butter along with the 3 minced garlic cloves, salt and pepper, and dill. Stir over medium-high heat until everything is well incorporated.
- Remove 3/4 a cup of the corn mixture to reserve for later. With the rest of the corn mixture, add it to a food processor, along with the 1/2 cup grated Parmesan, toasted almonds, and 1/3 cup olive oil. Process until well blended. You’ll notice here that for this corn sauce, it essentially is like a pesto in using corn, olive oil, and toasted almonds (instead of pine nuts). I personally always do the olive oil glugging last so that I can continue to taste it and get it to a consistency I like (although keep in mind some of the pasta water will also be added to marry the sauce with the pasta). F is not a fan of pestos that have too much oil, which is why I only used 1/3 but if it had just been me I might have added more.
- Return the processed corn portion to the skillet and add the reserved 3/4 of the unprocessed corn mixture and heat until everything softens. Then add the pasta and 3/4 cup of the chiffonade basil to the skillet and mix. Add a small bit of the pasta water at a time until the sauce is the consistency you want- I kept mine pretty thick and used maybe 3/4 cup of pasta water.
- Add the halved grape tomatoes and toss. Top with the remaining Parmesan (optional) and basil and serve!
This dish serves four.
Although it’s almost time to say goodbye to tomatoes and corn, I know we are saying hello to so many squashes, romanesco and beets and other root vegetables.
What winter food are you looking forward to?
And what do you think of those refrigerated raviolis? I don’t mind making pasta myself if it’s just plain (like fettuccine, or spaghetti) but when it comes to stuffing them like tortellini or ravioli, I’m all into convenience, and there are so many interesting flavors out there! Do you have a favorite kind?