Bowties Are Cool Blueberry Goat Cheese Pasta Salad

It's Saturday! You know what that means, kids: It's Doctor Who time!

Yay!!!!!

In case you missed it last week, I'm doing a new weekly series in honor of Doctor Who's 50th anniversary this year.

(Btdubs: Feel free to share your thoughts on last week's episode, The Bells of St. John. It wasn't my favorite episode, but I now totally get why Oswin was such a genius, and why the daleks turned her into one of them (although, I still don't get why the daleks would make other people dalek when they view everything else as inferior. They're not cybermen for crying out loud. They don't do upgrades) Annnnnnd discuss)

This week we're still focusing on the newest Doctor, because if he's only taught us one thing, it's that bowties are cool.

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On the interwebs, I read that Matt Smith's costume was originally supposed to be completely different and kind of pirate-y. I also read that Steven Moffat (executive producer and head writer) was completely against the idea of a bowtie, but that Matt wasn't really the Doctor until he donned the tweedy jacket and the bowtie and then started to pretend that his pen was a sonic screwdriver.

Side note: How adorable is Matt Smith? I want to shrink him and keep him in my pocket. Is that weird? I think that might be weird.

Given the inherent coolness of the bowtie, there was no doubt that I would make something with bowtie pasta for this series. My original thought was to do that trick where you dye the pasta by adding food coloring to the boiling water. Just a few drops it said. That's all you'll need, it said. It's so easy, it said.

It lied. Like a rug.

Instead of lovely TARDIS blue bowtie pasta, I had sad little grayish bowtie pasta. Those bowties were NOT cool.

Disheartened, I went to Home Goods for some retail therapy, where among other things, I found elderberry white balsamic vinegar. I was intrigued (and my brother immediately started quoting Monty Python), and grabbed it. Then I was watching Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives, and they made a pie with blueberries, goat cheese, and fresh basil. That flavor combination sounded fabulous, but we all know that I have some issues with pie.

Then suddenly, like an invasion of Sontarans, it struck: Blueberries. Blue, like the TARDIS is blue. With a fruity balsamic vinaigrette. In a pasta salad. A bowtie pasta salad. Which would be cool. Literally. Because it's served chilled.

...

My mommy thinks I'm funny.

Time itself must have bent over backwards to get me to make this salad, because it is officially my favorite salad in the history of ever. I'm not usually not a fan of the sweet/savory combo, and I never like fruit in my salad, but for some reason, this hits all the right notes. The firm pasta, the lightly sweet homemade vinaigrette, the bitterness of the spinach, the tang of the goat cheese, the slight tart of the berries, with the underlying note of the fresh basil. (The tomatoes are really just there for color. I picked them out afterwards. They didn't really go. Hashtag foodbloggerproblems)

Best. Salad. EVER. And also one of the prettiest. :3

Whovian or not, there are three facts that must be universally acknowledged as true:

1. Bowties are cool.
2. This salad is awesome.
3. And this is me almost every time I go to cook something:

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"What are you making?" "I don't know. It's a thing in progress. Respect the thing!"

Blueberry Goat Cheese Pasta Salad {Printable Version}

Yield: 6-8 servings

Ingredients

1 box (16 oz.) bowtie pasta

½ cup fruity white balsamic vinegar

½ cup olive oil

2 tsp. spicy brown mustard

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ tsp. sea salt

½ tsp. freshly cracked black pepper

½ tsp. dried oregano

1 pint fresh blueberries

½ cup fresh basil, julienned

4 oz. goat cheese, crumbled

12 oz. fresh baby spinach (or your favorite lettuce)

Optional—cherry tomatoes

Directions

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box. Drain and rinse well with cold water. While the pasta is cooking, mix together the vinaigrette: in a small mixing bowl, whisk together the balsamic, oil, mustard, garlic, salt, pepper, and oregano until smooth. Refrigerate until use.

Mix the cooked pasta with the blueberries, basil, half of the goat cheese, and about half of the vinaigrette (and cherry tomatoes, if using). To serve, line the bottom of a serving bowl or platter with the spinach, and top with the pasta. Sprinkle the remaining goat cheese on top, and drizzle with the remaining vinaigrette.

Serve cool.

Tip: Salt the boiling water for more flavorful pasta. I usually cook the pasta 1-2 minutes less than the shortest cook time on the box because I prefer it more firm.

Recipe by Kim

It kind of looks like it's crying, doesn't it?

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OMG, don't blink, it's the weeping pasta salad!!!!!

Kim's Favorite Mac 'n Cheese

I feel like I have pretty plebian tastes. I love meatloaf and chilli. I think my mom's tuna casserole is the bomb (do people still say that? Am I hip to the lingo of today's kids? Word). I've never had champagne that I liked. And I'll take dinosaur chicken nuggets with a cupcake for dessert over some fancy-pants five-course meal anyday. So when I go to a classy restaurant, there generally isn't a whole lot to tickle my tastebuds.

Of course, whenever I'm at a classy restaurant, I feel the need to be as crass as possible. When my mother became worried that my conversations about monkey poo, proper stabbing methods, and whether or not the guy outside would let me finish his fries would get me kicked out, I cited the fact that I was a food blogger, and I could get away with anything because they don't want to alienate the blogger community. We are gods in any restaurant setting (the power! Mwahahahaha).

My brother (who started the conversation about proper stabbing methods, fyi), suggested that I should have demanded macaroni and cheese for my dinner using my power as a food blogger. They had pasta on the menu, and a whole menu devoted to cheese, it would be doable. You know what, though? I probably wouldn't have liked it. Because it would be fancy macaroni and cheese, with weirdy cheeses

I very much prefer my mac 'n cheese to any fancy thing they might have come up with. Pasta coated in my gooey homemade garlicy cheese sauce with bits of cooked onion and bacon, baked until the edges are crunchy, with crispy panko bread crumbs on top. It's not quick. It's complicated. If don't you want that, grab the blue box. But it is comfort food at its best.

I've made this recipe loads of times, and while I never quite make it the same way twice, the basics pretty much stay the same. Some part of the recipes may seem like more suggestion than instruction because of this. You'll also note that I use rotini in the pictures here, rather than the smaller pasta that I recommend. There wasn't quite enough sauce for the rotini, so do as I say, not as I do, eh?

This works as either a main dish or a side dish. Add some tuna or chicken and some broccoli, and it's a full meal. Or, if I may suggest, it goes wonderfully with dinosaur chicken nuggets.

Kim’s Favorite Mac ‘n Cheese {Printable Recipe}

Yield: 6-8 servings

Ingredients

1 pkg. (16 oz.) pasta (smaller pastas such as elbow or farfalle work best)

2 tbsp. unsalted butter

1 clove garlic, minced

1 small onion, diced

4 strips thick-cut bacon, chopped into small pieces

¼ cup all-purpose flour

½ tsp. salt (I use sea salt, but kosher works as well)

¼ tsp. pepper (freshly cracked, if possible)

1½ - 2 cups milk

Approx. 2 cups of your favorite shredded cheese*

Panko bread crumbs and extra shredded cheese, to top (optional)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375°F. In a large pot, cook the pasta according to the directions on the package, but undercook it slightly (by 1-2 minutes). Drain well.

While the pasta is cooking, in another pot add the garlic and butter. Heat over medium-low heat until the butter is melted and the garlic is fragrant. Add the bacon and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the bacon is fully cooked and the onion is translucent. Add in the flour, salt, and pepper and mix well. Gradually add in the first 1½ cups milk, stirring constantly. If the mixture seems too thick, add the remaining milk, ¼ cup at a time (the sauce will thicken further as it heats and when the cheese is added, so best to err on the side of caution here). Continue to heat until it starts to boil. Remove from heat, and add the cheese ½ cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. The cheese should be completely melted before the next batch is added. When all the cheese has been added, add the cooked pasta and mix well, making sure to coat each noodle with the sauce.

Add the pasta and sauce to a 9x13 inch baking dish and top liberally with extra shredded cheese and bread crumbs if desired. Bake 30 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool slightly before serving.

Tip: I never make this recipe the same way twice. This recipe is based off of my approximations. Feel free to tweak it based on your tastes.

*I’ve never actually measured how much cheese I use. I add it by the handful until it tastes “right,” which is 3-4 handfuls. You might use more or less, based on personal preference.

Recipe by Kim

This recipe is featured on Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party

Fiesta Pasta Salad

Today I'm revealing my not-so secret ingredient. I put this stuff on nearly everything savory. I use it to jazz up my tuna salad, add it to every dry rub I make, use it in soups and stews. For a while I considered keeping a bottle of it in my purse so I could even use it in restaurants.

It's Mrs. Dash.

Completely dumbfounding, right? I hate things that are salty (except for things that are supposed to be salty, like pretzels and feta), so if something's bland, I'm not going to reach for the salt shaker. I'd generally take bland over salty any day. But with Mrs. Dash, I don't have to make that choice. (That sounded like a good tag line for a commercial, right? Hey, Mrs. D, have your people call my people. We'll do lunch.)

It was a product that my nutrition-savvy aunt found years ago, and our family has been using it since before it really entered the public sphere. We used to have to hunt for it in stores; now you can find it in every grocery store in a mind-boggling array of flavors. I recently decided to try out the Fiesta Lime flavor. Hoo boy, was that a good idea.

 I feel like I've crossed some line into official foodie bloggerdom: I photographed my dinner plate

This pasta salad was originally up food. My brother was grilling something, and nobody knew what to make with it, and nobody much felt like going to the store. And I was all, "why not just make pasta salad?" Of course, that meant that I had to make the pasta salad, and it was kind of a found-object dish. I grabbed a box of tri-color pasta, a can of tomatoes, a can of corn, and onion, and a bunch of spices (including Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime). And, don't laugh, I chopped up a couple sticks of string cheese, because I wanted to add cheese. My mother fell in love with it and declared that I had to make it for the annual family barbecue.

Knowing what to do now, I added some bell pepper and a little bit of salad dressing to keep it from drying out. And I used a pre-packaged block of mozzarella.

I know what you're thinking. Trust me, I know. I'm Italian. But the pre-packaged kind is firmer, and the cheese is going to soak up the flavors of the pasta salad anyway. This is the only time you will ever hear me recommend using it over fresh, but you are better off in this one instance. (Note: you can also make it with feta; I did both and preferred the mozz, but the feta is still pretty tasty.)

Oh, and that 28 oz. can is not a typo. Italian households tend to have very large cans of tomatoes around the house. You can always sub two smaller cans if you prefer. Or one smaller can if you want less tomatoes. I don't care. Really.

Fiesta Pasta Salad {Printable Version}

Yield: 6-8 servings

Ingredients
1 box (16 oz.) tri-color pasta
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained
1 15.25 oz. can corn, drained
1 large bell pepper, julienned
1 medium onion, chopped
8 oz. mozzarella, cut into bite-size pieces
2 tbsp. Italian flavored dressing (I used sun-dried tomato and basil flavored)
1 tbsp. Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime seasoning blend
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. dried oregano
½ tsp. dried basil
Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste


Directions

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box. Drain and rinse with cold water. Place in a large serving bowl. Mix well with remaining ingredients. Cover and refrigerate minimum 2 hours. Serve chilled.

Tip: Salt the boiling water for more flavorful pasta. I usually cook the pasta 1-2 minutes less than the shortest cook time on the box because I prefer it more firm.

Recipe by Kim