This was part of the ‘Cajun Birthday Lunch’
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Once again John Besh to the rescue. His My New Orleans cookbook has a gorgeous recipe for Crabmeat stuffed tomatoes. I simplified it because cooking the tomatoes seemed unecessary – here in Los Angeles the Romas are near perfection year ’round so I figured why not accentuate that.

ingredients:
6 ripe Roma tomatoes
1/2 cup mayonaisse
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon Creole seasoning (recipe here)
2 cups jumbo lump crab meat

Wash the tomatoes and slice them in half. Using a spoon scoop out the insides so you get a nice little cup.

Turn the tomato cups over onto paper towels to dry out.

In a bowl combine the mayonaisse, lemon juice, dijon and the crab meat. Add the creole spices and stir to combine.

Turn the tomato cups over and fill with the crab salad.

This makes a great party dish, it looks good and has it’s own serving dish!

This was part of the ‘Cajun Birthday Lunch’
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I am one of those people who LOVE olives. The salty brine, green, black, kalamata, garlic stuffed, I love them all. These are your basic sandwiches until you add an olive salad to the mix. You can buy it in jar but it’s packed with oil, which frankly – sickens me. So I made this one up quick and I think it complemented the meats nicely. Like with the rest of the Cajun meal, there were NO leftovers for this!

ingredients:
6 ounces pitted green, chopped
6 ounces black olives, chopped
6 ounces green olives with pimento, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped fine
2 teaspoons garlic, minced
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
Salt
Pepper

Mix all the ingredients together.

Seriously. That’s it. I have nothing more to say. I like to make this the day before I serve it so that all the flavors really mix up nicely but other than that – yeah. You’re done.

Oh, you want to know how to serve it? Place it on a nice soft roll with the following:

provolone cheese
prosciutto
coppa
salami
ham
mayo
mustard

I set it up so people could build their own sandwiches – it came out great and it was minimal work for me, YAY.

I love Greek Salad – it’s the feta. I wanted to make a lightly dressed salad that would be good as a main dish OR a side dish.

ingredients:
1 (16 ounce) package tortellini
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/8 cup lemon juice
1/8 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons minced garlic
salt
freshly ground pepper
1 cup cucumber – cubed
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 cup pearl tomatoes
1 cup black olives

I like to use tortellini cause of the size and the filling adds a lot to this recipe. You can use other pastas if you want, the taste will definitely vary a bit.

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the tortellini, and cook according to the package directions. Drain well.

In a small bowl, mix the olive oil, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, parsley, oregano, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper.

In a large bowl toss the tortellini with the dressing. Set aside.

Add in the cubed cucumber, feta, tomatoes and olives. Toss and refrigerate. I like this dish served cold, right out of the fridge. The crunch of the cucumbers and the flavors of the dressing and feta go really well with the pasta. It makes a great main dish or a nice side to chicken!

Part of Food Buzz 24, 24, 24: Cooking with Kids and the Farmer’s Market

This works in a weird way you wouldn’t expect. It’s not for everyone, but it’s a great refreshing summer salad.

ingredients:
1 tsp honey
1/2 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard
1/8 cup lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
2 ripe avocados
1 Oro Blaco Grapefruit
2 Ruby Red Grapefruits

In a small bowl combine the honey, dijon, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Add the olive oil and whisk together.

Peel the avocados, remove the pits. Cut into small cubes. drizzle with a little of the dressing just so the avocado won’t turn brown while you prep your grapefruits. Peel the grapefruits, cutting off the white pith. Carefully slice between each membrane so that you get only fruit segments.

Toss with the avocados and the rest of the dressing. Serve cold.

You know what’s better than egg salad? An egg salad with bacon. And be sure and use those colored hard boiled eggs from Easter. The dye makes it that much more colorful.

ingredients: (makes two sandwiches)
4 hard boiled eggs
3 TB mayonaise
2 tsp yellow mustard
4 cornichons (or a dill pickle spear) chopped
1/4 tsp onion powder
freshly ground black pepper
3 slices bacon
toast

Fry the bacon until extra crispy. Drain really well. REALLY WELL. You don’t want an oily eggs salad. Blech. Once drained chop up the bacon into small pieces, set aside.

Hard boil 4 eggs. If you get a little person to help you make sure the eggs have been COMPLETELY deshelled. And by little person I don’t mean midget, but any help is good help. Chop the boiled eggs into very a fine mince. In a bowl combine the eggs, mayo, mustard, and chopped cornichons, onion powder and pepper. Mix well.

Add the chopped bacon and give a final mix in. Spoon mixture onto toast, add lettuce or tomato if you’ve got it.

Great anytime, not just at Easter.

This is an old family fave we always had at parties. Total simple to make and so light that you could eat the whole tray yourself.
But don’t.

salad ingredients:
½ pkg. somen (8-10 oz), boiled
1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
char siu sliced in thins strips
2 eggs, fried crepe style & sliced in thin strips
¾ of a kamaboko sliced in strips
2 stalks green onion, chopped

dressing ingredients:
salad dressing:
1 Tablespoon sesame seeds
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 cup sesame oil
1/8 cup cooking oil
3 Tablespoons vinegar
2 Tablespoons shoyu

First boil the somen in water for only 2 minutes, don’t go over or I swear it will be glue-like. Immediately rinse it or it will continue to cook. I usually run my (clean) hand through it cause it’s still hot in the middle – see photo.

Now start cutting up all the ingredients, I suggest small “matchstick”-like pieces, they are easy to eat, but take time to cut. In case you don’t know what KAMABOKO is – it’s a “fish cake”. Don’t freak, it’s not that bad, it has virtually no taste it just adds a lot of color. You’ll sometimes see it floating in a bowl of hot Japanese noodles.

Now start laying down the ingredients.

First up, the cooled, drained noodles. Then the lettuce. (If you don’t like romaine you can just use a small head of iceberg.) Then the char siu or “barbequed pork” you can usually find this at any panda express or asian market. Don’t worry about the red dye, just eat it. Next come the lovely yellow eggs…and finally the kamaboko and green onion!

Now just mix the sauce and add it on at the last minute and you’re ready to serve!