Slow Cooker Short Ribs with Pasta and Fried Zucchini Salad

Today I was out with my sister, fabric shopping. I wanted dinner pretty much done by the time I got home. Slower cooker BBQ Ribs to the rescue!

I removed the membrane from the back of the ribs and rubbed them with a blend of Paprika, Ground Mustard powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Into the crockpot and poured 1 1/2 cups of BBQ Sauce. Our house favorite is Stubbs Original. Set it on low for 8 to 9 hours. 

After that remove the ribs from the crockpot and brush the with more Stubbs BBQ sauce. Put them under the broiler for 3-5 minutes until the BBQ sauce starts to bubble and carmelize. 

The pasta salad was made when I got home from shopping. My sister gave me some green beans and I used them in a new recipe I was trying from Yotam Ottolenghi's cookbook, Plenty.

I  used the green beans in place of the edamame.

Ingredients-

1/3 cup sunflower oil


1 medium zucchini cut in 1/4 inch slices (slightly diagonal)


3/4 tbsp red wine vinegar


3/4  cup edamame beans (frozen), or fresh green beans


1 cups basil leaves, coarsely chopped


2tbsp parsley leaves


2 1/2 tbsp olive oil


4 oz pasta (penne or strozzapreti)

Zest of 12 lemon

3/4 tbsps capers


4 oz buffalo mozzarella, torn into chunks

Method-

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

While you’re waiting, in a medium saucepan or skillet, heat sunflower oil over medium-high heat. 

Fry zucchini slices in batches for about 3 to 4 minutes, flipping once, until golden on both sides. 

Drain in a colander, shaking with a couple pinches of salt, then transfer to a large bowl and pour vinegar on top. Set aside.

In the hot water, cook edamame for 3 minutes, frozen peas for 3 to 4 minutes, or fresh peas for 1 to 2 minutes (to taste). Drain and run cool water over until lukewarm. Set aside to dry. 

Leave pot boiling, then cook pasta until al dente in it. Drain and rinse under cold water.

Combine half of the basil and all of the parsley and olive oil in a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth, then season with salt and pepper.

Transfer pasta back to the empty pot. Add fried zucchini and any juices, basil-parsley oil, edamame or peas, lemon zest, capers, and mozzarella. 

Stir gently together, then season generously with salt and pepper. 

Right before you serve it, stir in remaining basil leaves

 

Pasta and Zucchini Salad

I had some leftover grilled zucchini from last night's dinner. That was the starting point for this salad. I had read a recipe on the New York Times Cooking site from the cookbook "Plenty" by Yotam Ottolenghi. I used that recipe as the base. I omitted a couple of ingredients. The link above will bring you to the original recipe. Here is my take on it -

Ingredients-
Leftover grilled zucchini
1 cups basil leaves, shredded
1/4 cup parsley leaves
2 1/2 tbsp olive oil
6 oz penne pasta
Zest of 1/2 lemon
1 tbsp capers, drained
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
3 oz buffalo mazzarella, torn into chunks
Salt
Pepper
Crushed Red Pepper

Method-
Cut the leftover grilled zucchini into small cubes. Set aside.

In food processor, combine the basil, parsley and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and process until smooth. (I think this could have been completed by just chopping the herbs and mixing them with the oil, salt and pepper instead of dirtying the food processor).

Cook the pasta in boiling water until al dente; drain and rinse under cold water. Return the pasta to the pot and add the zucchini, basil sauce, lemon zest, capers, mozzarella, and vinegar. Stir together and season with salt, pepper and crushed red pepper.

Vacation Day Five - Pasta and Zucchini Salad

Vacation days are perfect for sitting on the deck reading a book and having a cocktail. Today's cocktail was a Blueberry and Basil and Vodka and Soda. Oh, it was very good.

Today it was a little warm so I made a pasta salad and picked up a rotisserie chicken. Tried to keep the house as cool as I could, no we have not turned the air on yet.

The recipe for this pasta came from the New York Times. The recipe was adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi's first cookbook, “Plenty. I made a change using snow peas in place of the Edamame.

Ingredients-
Salt
Black pepper
⅔ cup sunflower oil
3 medium zucchini, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
1 ½ tablespoons red wine vinegar
¾ cup snow peas
2 cups basil leaves, shredded coarsely
¼ cup parsley leaves
⅓ cup olive oil
9 ounces  penne pasta
Zest of 1 lemon
1 ½ tablespoons capers
7 ounces buffalo mozzarella, torn into chunks

Method-
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

In a medium saucepan, heat sunflower oil over medium-high heat. Fry zucchini slices in batches (do not crowd them) for 3 minutes, or until golden brown on both sides. Transfer to a colander to drain. Tip zucchini slices into a bowl, pour vinegar on top and stir, then set aside.

Add the Snow Peas to the oil and fry until they look cooked, about 3 minutes. Drain and add to Zucchini slices.

In a food processor, combine half the basil, all of the parsley and the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and process until smooth.

In boiling water, cook pasta until al dente; drain and rinse under cold water. Return pasta to pot. Pour zucchini slices and snow peas and their juices over pasta. Add basil sauce, lemon zest, capers and mozzarella. Stir together gently, then taste and season with plenty of salt and pepper. Before serving, stir in remaining basil.