I do so enjoy a good pasta salad. I also enjoy Crabuluxe, so obviously my tastes can't be a reliable source of information. For those of you who have yet to hear me speak of Crabuluxe, it is the faux-product name I tag on any form of imitation crab meat. It runs about $2.50 per pound and is useful in all sorts of recipes (such as Zesty Crabuluxe Cold Pasta Salad; Crab and Spinach Enchiladas, or Stir-Fried Broccoli with Crabuluxe). I suppose if you're made of money and regularly wipe your ass with $100 bills you could go ahead and use real crab meat. Anyways, we whipped this little number up using a mango-chipotle vinaigrette we picked up at ALDI. We had it warm the day we made it, then ate it cold the next day. We felt cold was the better way to serve it. Do what you want as far as serving temperature. Nobody listens to me anyways. As always, notes are in blue.
Sweet and Tangy Crabuluxe Pasta Salad
Ingredients
1 pound medium shells pasta
1 pound Crabuluxe, cut into bite sized pieces
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
8 ounces mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/4" cubes
1-1/4 cup mango chipotle vinaigrette (ALDI carries it. If you don't have access to ALDI, I imagine most larger grocery stores carry something similar)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ponzu sauce (it's a citrus based sauce. If you don't have it in your kitchen, stop reading this and go get a bottle. You can thank me later)
2 teaspoons Sriracha (optional for babies and the chronically lame)
Directions
Cook pasta until al dente (nice guy, Al. I wonder what he's up to these days?) Drain put in a large bowl.
In a smaller bowl, mix the vinaigrette, garlic powder, ponzu and Sriracha.
Put all the remaining ingredients in the large bowl with the pasta. Pour in the contents of the smaller bowl. Toss to incorporate ingredients.
Refrigerate at least one hour before serving. (as mentioned, we loved this as a cold pasta salad. There's really nothing stopping you from serving it immediately if you prefer a warm pasta salad. It's not like I have your house under surveillance...Or do I?)
The school year is in full swing, which means the slow-cooker has been brought out for heavy use. Generally we throw together a few things in our cookers on Sunday and eat on them for lunches and dinners during the work week. I started this week with an idea that had been knocking around in my head for a couple of days. Pork and hominy seemed like a good mix, so I decided to use those as key ingredients and give it a generally Southwest feel. I used my own home-canned chili tomatoes. Any canned chili tomato will do. The recipe below is written assuming you're using plain old canned tomatoes. If you find pre-seasoned chili tomatoes, omit the chili powder, cumin and paprika. If you drain the liquid, this makes a decent taco filling. It's also good over rice. It doesn't have a ton of heat, so you can fine tune it as you need.
Slow Cooker Pork Loin with Hominy
Ingredients
Pork loin, about 3 pounds
1 can white or yellow hominy, drained
1 can black eye peas or bean of your choice
1 quart canned tomatoes, undrained.
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
3 cayenne peppers
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
1 can cream of celery soup
Directions
Heat some oil in a large pan. Cook loin about 3 minutes on each side, until just starting to brown.
Pour tomatoes and spices into slow cooker. Lay the loin, fat side up, on top of the tomatoes.
Spread remaining ingredients over top of loin.
Cook 4-5 hours on HIGH or until meat breaks apart easily with a fork.
UPDATE: I have added a YouTube video of the actual cooking process! How exciting! Or not. Depends on how low you set the bar.
