50 Women Game Changers in Food - #25 Paula Wolfert - Moroccan Carrot Salad

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Paula Wolfert is an acknowledged expert in the cooking of the Mediterranean, but when this Brooklyn girl first married she, quite literally, couldn't boil water. Frustrated with her cooking failures, she decided to take cooking classes at Dione Lucas's Cordon Bleu cooking school. It was love at first bite- forgive that please - and she left college to work in the school kitchen to offset the cost of her tuition. Her first husband's job took them to Morocco where she first became fascinated with the rich flavors and exotic ingredients of the area. It was here that she began began her life-long quest to find the best dishes the region had to offer. Her search took her from lowly Berber villages to Greece, Spain, Italy and the south of France. Her second husband, the novelist William Bayer, urged her to write her first cookbook. She did that, and went on to write eight more books that chronicle her adventures and the food she found in a precise, yet exuberant manner. Her books can all be found here. She has detractors who actually criticize her recipes for their authenticity and use hard-to-find ingredients. She refuses to bow or bend and insists on authentic taste in the dishes she prepares. Wolfert has a simple test that dishes to be used in her books must pass. She must want to eat them again. She views food as memory and wants dishes that have lingering flavors that will appeal to all the senses. Her future plans include a book on garlic and olive oil and perhaps one on the fruits and vegetables of the Mediterranean. You understand, of course, that would require her to explore still more villages in search of another great cook or undiscovered secret. I suspect she already has her bag packed. I have chosen a very simple recipe to showcase her work. It is a carrot salad that is perfectly spiced and it is a nice counterpoint to the heavy food we've been feasting on this holiday. Here's the recipe.

Moroccan Carrot Salad...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Paula Wolfert

Ingredients:
1 pound carrots
1 clove garlic
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika or Aleppo pepper
Juice of 1 lemon
1/8 teaspoon sugar
Salt to taste
Olive oil and chopped parsley for garnish

Directions:
1) Wash and peel carrots. Boil whole in water with garlic clove until barley tender, about 10 minutes. Drain. Discard garlic. Let carrots cool, then slice or dice and place in a large bowl.
2) Combine spices, lemon juice, sugar and salt. Pour over carrots. Toss to combine.
3) Chill. Toss again before serving and top with a drizzle of olive oil and chopped parsley. Yield:
4 to 6 servings.

The following bloggers are also featuring the recipes of Paula Wolfert today. I hope you'll visit all of them. They are great cooks who have wonderful blogs.

Val - More Than Burnt Toast, Joanne - Eats Well With Others, Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed Susan - The Spice Garden, Claudia - A Seasonal Cook in Turkey, Heather - girlichef
Miranda - Mangoes and Chutney, Jeanette - Healthy Living, April - Abby Sweets
Katie - Making Michael Pollan Proud, Mary - One Perfect Bite, Kathleen - Bake Away with Me
Viola - The Life is Good Kitchen, Sue - The View from Great Island, Barbara - Movable Feasts Kathleen - Gonna Want Seconds, Amy - Beloved Green, Linda - Ciao Chow Linda
Linda A - There and Back Again, Martha - Lines from Linderhof, Nancy - Picadillo
Mireya - My Healthy Eating Habits, Veronica - My Catholic Kitchen
Annie - Most Lovely Things, Claudia - Journey of an Italian Cook


Next week we will highlight the career and recipes of Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray. It will be really interesting to see what everyone comes up with. If you'd like to join us please email me for additional information no later than Monday, November 28th.

Rice and Mixed Bean Salad

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This salad was a regular feature at our picnics and barbecues this past summer. I'd normally retire it for the season, but the dish proved to be so popular that I've decided to keep it on hand for church suppers and other covered dish affairs. The ingredients needed to make it are always available and the salad is simple in the extreme. It is an assembled dish and if you have a can opener you've got the salad. You've probably had more rice and bean combinations than you'd care to remember, but I'm here to urge you to try just one more. This one is really, really good. The salad dressing is what sets it apart from most others of its ilk. It is bright and fresh and has a decidedly Southwestern bent that makes it great to serve with Mexican suppers or plain grilled entrees. The salad can be made the day before it is to be served and it keeps well. If you have leftovers, serve them with warm pita chips and they both will disappear. I think those of you who try this will enjoy it. It won't change your life, but it will make it easier. Here's the recipe.

Rice and Mixed Bean Salad...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:
Salad
3 cups cooked basmati rice
1 can (16 ounces) kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
1-1/2 cups frozen corn, thawed
4 green onions, sliced
1 small sweet red pepper, chopped
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
Dressing
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:
1) To make salad: Combine rice, both types of beans, corn, green onions, sweet pepper and cilantro in a large bow.
2) To make dressing: Combine oil, vinegar, sugar, garlic, salt, cumin, chili powder and pepper in a small bowl. Whisk to combine. Pour over salad and toss to coat. Chill until serving time. Yield: 6 servings.







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Black Bean Salad - Simply Recipes
Grilled Corn Salad - Recipe Girl
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Chicken Rice and Black Bean Salad - Sidewalk Shoes

Fennel and Celery Salad - On the Road to Morocco

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...The Silver Fox and I are airborne and heading to Germany on the first leg of our yearly adventure. Oktoberfest beckoned and we couldn't resist its lure, but once we've had our fill of beer and sausage and German gemütlichkeit, we'll head to North Africa for whirlwind tours of Tangier, Casablanca and Marrakesh. Our final destination is Turkey, and this fascinating country is where we'll be spending most of our time. We pieced together an antiquities tour that, in addition to the wonders of the Sophia and Topkapi, will involve some hiking on the Lycean way, and visiting places as disparate as Ephesus, Cappadocia, Gallipoli and, of course, Troy in memory of the fair Helen. Needless to say, excitement is running high and we're really looking forward to this adventure. We'll be gone for a month, but I wanted you to know that I've scheduled new posts and recipes for everyday we're away and that I plan to add travel updates whenever it is possible. Don't be a stranger. I sincerely hope you'll continue to stop by.



From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I had intended to share another adult cookie with you today, but I came across a fennel and celery salad that was developed by Mark Bittman and changed my plans. Though fennel is a cool weather crop, and will be available for months to come, I wanted to share his recipe with you while locally grown fennel is still available in your farmers markets. I loved this salad and I think those of you who like fennel will love it, too. While they have similar textures, fennel and celery have completely different flavors. They meld beautifully, especially when tossed with a lemony vinaigrette. The only caution I have to share with you regarding today's dish is that both vegetables must be very thinly sliced and approximately the same size. This is the time to use a mandolin if you have one. I like this salad chilled but it can be served at room temperature if you prefer. The slicing will turn many of you off, but this is an exceptional salad and well-worth the effort required to get it to the table. I hope you will give it a try. Here's the recipe.


Fennel and Celery Salad...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Mark Bittman

Ingredients:
2 medium fennel bulbs, trimmed, some fronds reserved
3 celery ribs, trimmed
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, more to taste
Salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, more to taste
Freshly shaved Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1) Cut fennel bulbs in quarters lengthwise, discarding outer layer if it is exceedingly tough. Use a mandoline to slice quarters thinly; slice celery equally thin.
2) Put sliced fennel and celery into a large bowl and drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper and toss gently to combine. Top with lots of freshly shaved Parmesan and chopped fennel fronds if you like. Yield: 4 to 6 servings.








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Shaved Fennel Salad - 101 Cookbooks
Watermelon and Fennel Salad - Jenn Cuisine
Edamame and Fennel Salad - The Parsley Thief
Fennel Salad - Christie's Corner
Blood Orange and Fennel Salad - Liking Pineapples

Cucumber and Sour Cream Salad

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Cucumbers and peppers of all types come to market with a vengeance at this time of year. While there are scores of recipes for peppers, it's harder to find new and interesting ways to prepare cucumbers. I make the usual relish and pickles, and, of course, add them to fish and chicken salads, but it is hard to find truly new ways to use cucumbers. I tend to fall back on the recipes of my childhood and use them with only slight changes to accommodate more modern tastes and better ingredients. The home I grew up in was in a multi-cultural neighborhood and we had Swedish neighbors to our right and German neighbors to our left. I've spoken before with great fondness of Mrs. P and Hannie. They were an important part of my childhood and my love affair with food began in their kitchens. Each kitchen had its own version of cucumber salad and both were delicious. One was vinegar based and the other relied on sour cream. They both, however, shared a preparation technique that guaranteed an outstanding salad. They would salt their cucumbers and let them sit for several hours before adding them to salads. The salting drew moisture from the cucumbers and assured they would be crisp. Once rinsed, they were patted dry and covered with sour cream or vinegar. The result was always a crackly crisp salad that even Lucullus would enjoy. Years ago, I stumbled on a recipe for a cucumber and sour cream salad in House and Garden magazine. It has become a fixture in my kitchen at this time of year. It really is simple to make and I think you'll enjoy it. Here's the recipe.

Cucumber and Sour Cream Salad...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite inspired by House and Garden Magazine

Ingredients:
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 scant tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons chopped chives or a grating of onion
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill, head and fronds
1 teaspoon celery seed
2 firm fresh cucumbers

Directions:
1) Dissolve salt and sugar in vinegar, add the sour cream and stir smooth. You may like more or less vinegar, salt or sugar, but don't make dressing too sweet. Add the chives, dill and celery seed.
2) Slice unpared cucumbers paper-thin and combine with dressing. Chill for 1 hour or more. Sour cream cucumbers improve in taste as they stand and flavor of cucumbers seeps into dressing. Yield: 4 to 6 servings.







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Cauliflower Salad with Red Pepper, Olives and Anchovies

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I first sampled this salad in the Italian kitchen of my childhood. Mrs. S. made it for her family, but only during the Christmas holiday. The dish originated in Sicily and it was called insalata di rinforzo. She called it reinforced salad because its ingredients were refreshed every day until the feast of the Epiphany was celebrated. At that point, it would miraculously disappear from her table and not be seen again until the following Christmas. I had really fond memories of the salad which looked like an element of giardiniera, but tasted nothing like its acrid pickled cousin. I had for years tried to duplicate it, but was never able to get it quite right. While searching for recipes that could be used to represent the work of Marcella Hazan, I stumbled on her recipe for the salad and, of course, had to try it. What was lost had now been found and I wasted no time making it. I love the way this salad looks and I really like its heady earthy flavors. The salad, which is very easy to make, is strongly flavored and not meant for the faint of heart. Those who share my love of full-bodied foods are in for a taste treat. Please note that the recipe uses capers and anchovies, neither of which are favorites of the general public. I'd love to tell you they can be omitted, but that is not the case. It's best not to attempt the salad if you aren't going to use them. Hazan's recipes have a lovely balance of flavors and I think you'll really like this salad. Here's the recipe.

Cauliflower Salad with Red Pepper, Olives and Anchovies...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Marcella Hazan

Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower, about 1-1/2 pounds
2 tablespoons capers, drained
4 flat anchovy fillets, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup sweet red bell pepper,peeled, cored and cut into thin strips
10 black Greek-style olives, pitted and cut in half
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons wine vinegar

Directions:
1) Trim outer leaves of cauliflower and cut an x in the root. Bring at least 6 cups of water to a boil. Add cauliflower, cover pot, and cook until stem of cauliflower can easily be pierced with a fork, about20 minutes. Drain and cool.
2) Break cauliflower clusters into bite-sized pieces and put them in a salad bowl. Add capers, anchovies, bell pepper and black olives and toss gently to combine. Add vinegar and olive oil and toss again. Season to taste with salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm or at room temperature. Yield 4 to 6 servings.









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Marinated Vegetable Salad - Drick's Rambling Cafe
Chopped Vegetable Salad with Lemon Garlic Dressing - David Lebovitz
Vegetable Salad with Cheese - Eat Pray and Blog
Orzo Vegetable Salad - Maine Food and Lifestyle
Middle Eastern Vegetable Salad- My Life in Food

50 Women Game-Changers in Food - #6 Marcella Hazan - Cold Herb-Flavored Marinated Green Beans

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Marcella Hazan holds sixth place on the Gourmet Live list of 50 Women Game-Changers in food. Her name is well known to lovers of Italian food and her six best-selling cookbooks make her as important to Italian cooking as Julia Child is to French. She is credited with introducing American cooks to Italian regional food and ending the red sauce siege of American kitchens. Her background is very interesting. She was born in Egypt and survived the German occupation of Italy during World War II. As a young woman, she was a biology teacher whose credentials were supported by two doctoral degrees. Her interest in cooking did not begin until her marriage to an Italian-American. Much like Julia Child, she learned to cook in order to please her husband. She had no need or desire to cook in Italy, and had they remained there, we would never have heard her voice. Despite a lack of formal training, she had taste memories that she was able to translate to the Italian food she prepared for her husband in their American kitchen. Fortunately, she recorded her recipes and began to teach regional Italian cooking from her kitchen in New York City. She was discovered by Craig Claiborne, who was instrumental in finding a publisher for her first book, and Julia Child helped walk her through the vagaries of the New York publishing scene. She appears to be a woman of strong conviction but one without affectation. She considers herself to be a home cook and is offended by attempts to label her a gourmet, an expression she believes is pretentious.

Marcella and her husband, Victor, now live in Florida. Jaden Hair recently did a charming interview with the couple who are both now in their eighties. The interview can be found on Jaden's blog, Steamy Kitchen, which you can access here.

Selecting recipes that represent the work of the women who appear on the Gourmet list can be daunting. In all cases, I've made a conscious effort to choose recipes that can easily be made in home kitchens. One of Marcella's gifts to her readers is the balance of the herbs and spices she uses in her recipes. That gift is evident in today's recipe for marinated green beans. These are nothing like the ubiquitous bean salad that appears at potlucks and picnics. I really liked these. I hope you will too.

Cold Herb-Flavored Marinated Green Beans...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Marcella Hazan

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 teaspoon fresh oregano
5 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 pound green beans
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt to taste (Kosher or sea salt)
Fresh ground pepper to taste

Directions:
1) Choose a large bowl and place parsley, basil, oregano and vinegar in it. let it steep for 10 minutes. Add onion and garlic and mix well. Let steep for another 30 minutes.
2) Snap off ends of green beans, rinse in cold water, and drop them into boiling salt water. Drain string beans while still very firm. Add warm green beans to bowl with vinegar and herbs. Marinate for a minimum of 1 hour and as much as 5 or 6 hours. Mix thoroughly from time-to-time. Serve beans at room temperature, adding olive oil and salt and pepper to taste just before serving. Yield: 6 servings.

The following bloggers are also paying tribute to Marcella this week. I hope you'll visit all of them.

Val - More Than Burnt Toast
Joanne - Eats Well With Others
Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed
Susan - The Spice Garden
Claudia - A Seasonal Cook in Turkey
Heather - girlichef
Miranda - Mangoes and Chutney
Jeanette - Healthy Living
April - Abby Sweets
Katie - Making Michael Poland Proud
Mary - One Perfect Bite
Kathleen -Bake Away with Me
Viola - The Life is Good Kitchen

Next week we will highlight the food and recipes of Madhur Jaffrey. If you'd like to join us please email me for additional information. Everyone is welcome.

Heirloom Tomato Salad

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This is a lovely salad to have on the menu for picnics or barbecues. The play of colors in this dish is spectacular, and its flavors, when made with vine-ripened tomatoes can't be beat. Ideally, it should be made with ripe heirloom tomatoes, but when they are not available, I'm perfectly comfortable substituting other colorful varieties. The salad is one I suspect you'll quickly adapt to your own tastes. The tomatoes can be sliced or diced and the choice of dressing is limited to the cook's imagination. If you were to select one from a bottle, I'd certainly never tell. Homemade or store-bought, my only caution is a reminder to drown the tomatoes in dressing. I like to serve this salad at picnics because it transports easily and jostling in the car won't affect its already rustic appearance. This is the recipe I use to assemble it.

Heirloom Tomato Salad...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:
Salad
2 cups torn fresh spinach or arugula
2 cups sliced multicolored heirloom or vine ripened tomatoes
1 cup red and yellow cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup sliced red onion
Dressing
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon fresh, minced marjoram
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Directions:
1) Combine spinach, tomatoes and onion in a large bowl.
2) Combine olive oil, vinegar, garlic, marjoram, salt, pepper and mustard in a small bowl. Whisk to combine. Pour over salad and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Serve with a slotted spoon. Yield: 6 servings.







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Heirloom Tomato Salad - Sea Salt with Food
Heirloom Tomato Salad - Culinary Comfort
Heirloom Tomato Salad - The Amateur Gourmet
Watermelon, Feta and Heirloom Tomato Salad- Delicious Dishings

Fresh Salmon Salad with Homemade Boiled Dressing

Homemade Boiled Dressing




Fresh Salmon Salad

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...We're heading for the coast today. Pollen counts here in the valley are fearsome and a day of ocean breezes will help clear the head and get the holiday weekend off to a rousing start. I've organized a potluck of sorts and my contribution to communal feast is going to be a salad made with cucumbers and freshly poached salmon. This is not wedding or garden party food. The salmon will be served in chunks that are lightly tossed with a homemade boiled dressing and it will be accompanied by a selection of breads for those with trenchermen appetites or carb cravings. I made the dressing yesterday and it is happily chilling in the refrigerator. The salmon and I are communing as I write this. Once it is done, I'll break it into chunks and refrigerate it as well. My plan is to combine and toss the various elements of the salad just before serving. The combination is lovely and I plan to use the extra dressing for other salads this weekend. Mine will be just one of many dishes that we share today and I'm really looking forward to sampling all of them. Here are the recipes for the boiled dressing and the poached salmon salad. I know that those of you who try them will be really pleased with the results.

Boiled Dressing...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 cups milk
3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons butter

Directions:
1) Combine flour, sugar and salt in a heavy saucepan. Gradually whisk in milk.
2) Place over medium heat and cook, stirring, until mixture starts to boil. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat.
3) Gradually stir the hot mixture into the egg yolks. Pour back into saucepan.
4) Add vinegar and mustard. Stirring constantly, bring mixture to a boil over medium heat. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in butter. Cool to room temperature. Refrigerate. Yield: 1-1/2 cups.

Fresh Salmon Salad...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:
Salmon
3-1/2 pound piece fresh salmon
1/2 lemon sliced
1-1/2 tablespoons salt
6 whole black peppers
1 bay leaf
Tops from 2 celery stalks
Dressing
1-1/4 cups boiled salad dressing
1-1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoon fresh snipped dill-half that if using dry
1-1/2 cups peeled cucumbers cut in 1/4-inch dice
Optional garnishes
Leaf lettuce
Tomato wedges
Lemon wedges
Sliced cucumber

Directions:
1) To make salmon: Wash salmon. Place in large kettle or fish poacher. Add just enough water to cover. Add sliced lemon, salt, black peppers, bay leaf and celery tops. Slowly bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for 30-35 minutes, or until fish flakes when tested with a fork. Using a slotted utensil, carefully remove salmon from water and transfer to a plate. Let cool until it can be handled. Remove and discard skin and any bones. There should be about 2-1/2 pounds of salmon remaining. Break into large chunks and chill for several hours.
2) To make dressing: Combine boiled dressing, lemon juice, dill and diced cucumbers in a medium bowl. Mix well and chill for at least one hour.
3) To serve: Just before serving toss salmon with dressing. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Line a bowl or plate with lettuce. Mound salmon in center. Garnish as desired. Yield: 12 servings.







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Simple (Sensational) Salmon Salad - Cooking with Michele
Lemon-Caper Salmon Salad - Coconut and Lime

Watermelon and Tomato Salad

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This lovely salad is perfect to serve with summer's al fresco meals and I wanted you to have the recipe for it well in advance of the 4th of July holiday. It's very easy to prepare and it adds a lovely brightness to any meal where it is served. While the various element of the salad can be assembled early in the day, they should be combined and dressed just prior to serving. The salad is best served icy cold and, for optimal visual effect, you'll want to use the yellow tomatoes called for in the recipe. 'm using a photo from Taste of Home magazine to illustrate the way the salad should look. I had to make it this evening using only red tomatoes and it did not photograph well. I'll replace their photo with one of my own before the holiday. The magazine photo has been replaced with one of my own. I know many of you are going to question the use of the mango if this recipe. It adds a tart sweetness to the dressing that is hard to duplicate with other ingredients, so I'm going to say it is necessary in this application. I'm fairly certain that those of you make the salad will be pleased with the results. If you need more than six servings, the recipe can, of course, be doubled. Here's how it is made.

Watermelon and Tomato Salad ...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite adapted from a recipe developed for Taste of Home Magazine

Ingredients:
Salad Dressing
1-1/2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoons honey
1 small mango, peeled and chopped
1/2 teaspoon grated lime peel
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
Salad
4 cups cubed seedless watermelon
3/4 pound yellow tomatoes, coarsely chopped (about 3 medium)
3/4 pounds red tomatoes, coarsely chopped (about 3 medium)
1 small sweet onion, thinly sliced and separated into rings
1/3 cup minced fresh cilantro

Directions:
1) For dressing, place lime juice, white balsamic vinegar, olive oil, honey, mango, lime peel, salt
and pepper in a blender; cover and process until pureed.
2) In a large bowl, combine watermelon, tomatoes, onions and cilantro. Just before serving, add dressing and toss to coat. Serve with a slotted spoon. Yield: 6 servings.







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Watermelon Salad - Life's Ambrosia
Watermelon Salad with Rose and Mint Syrup - Technicolor Kitchen

Picnic Pasta Salad

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This is a nice recipe to have in the hopper for family picnics or neighborhood block parties. It's really fast to make and easy to assemble. There is no real cooking involved and if you can boil water you are home free. As a matter of fact, a spaghetti pot with an insert for draining makes it possible for even young cooks to make this picnic treat. One small caution. They have a tendency to sneak the "good stuff", so you'll probably want to keep your eyes on them as they assemble the salad. Someday, I'll tell you the story of the shrimpless shrimp pasta salad, but for now the memory is still too painful for discussion. The pasta can be served cold or at room temperature and, should you have the need, the recipe can be doubled. I use a mildly flavored giardiniera when I make this, but if you enjoy heat, by all means, go for the hotter variety. The recipe was developed by Michele Larson for Taste of Home magazine, and I guarantee that those of you who try it will enjoy her antipasto-type pasta. Here's the recipe.

Picnic Pasta Salad...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Michele Larson and Taste of HomeMagazine

Ingredients:
8 ounces medium pasta shells
1 jar (16 ounces) giardiniera
1/2 pound fresh broccoli florets
1/4 pound cubed part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/4 pound hard salami, cubed
1/4 pound deli ham, cubed
1 package (3-1/2 ounces) sliced pepperoni, halved
1 large green pepper, cut into chunks
1 can(6 ounces) pitted ripe olives, drained
Dressing
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
1) Cook pasta according to package directions.
2) Meanwhile, drain giardiniera, reserving 1/3 cup liquid. Combine giardiniera, broccoli, mozzarella, salami, ham, pepperoni, green pepper and olives in a large bowl.
3) Drain pasta and rinse in cold water; stir into meat mixture.
4) Whisk oil, vinegar, lemon juice, Italian seasoning, pepper, salt and reserved giardiniera liquid. Pour over salad and toss to coat. Refrigerate until serving. Yield: 12 servings.









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Shrimp Pasta Salad - Simply Recipes
Sheri's Greek Pasta Salad - A Bountiful Kitchen
French Pasta Salad - Eat Me, Delicious
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