tuna pasta salad

Growing up my mother would always make tuna pasta salad as a summer side. Eventually I learned this dish would be a perfect main component of a meal, any meal...and yes I've eaten this multiple times for breakfast. With a hands-on time of maybe 10 minutes, this dish is one of my top 5 dishes of all times, and it cuts corners and cheats and I still love it and always will! If you decide to make this, please please please let it cool in the fridge for as long as you can wait, because it really tastes disgusting when warm.

Ingredients (enough for 8 as a side dish, or 4 as medium bowls for a main dish):
1 lb small pasta of choice (I used elbows)
9 tbs white vinegar
2 envelopes dry Italian dressing mixture (I used Good Seasons)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup canola oil
2 tbs dried parsley
1 tbs dried basil
2 cans tuna

Directions:
1. Cook pasta until just past al dente. Set aside.

2. Combine vinegar, salad dressing, and mayonnaise & mix until blended.

3. Gradually add oil while mixing.
 

4. Add dried parsley & basil. Mix again.

 

5. Add tuna and mix again to fully coat and flake tuna into smaller bits.
 

6. Pour 1/3 of pasta into a large tupperware, top with 1/3 of tuna mixture and mix to coat fully. Repeat this pattern two more times until all pasta is well-coated with tuna mixture.
 

7. Pop in refrigerator until cooled off (at LEAST 1.5 hours) before enjoying!
 

 

Tweet Pin It Now!

boston restaurants: o

Yes I'm skipping ahead to "O" for Boston's best restaurants, but this is a secret I can no longer hide. O ya is hands-down my favorite restaurant in all of Boston. With steep prices and mostly two to three pieces per order (ranging from $8-38, with an exception of the $189.99 eight-ounce wagyu beef striploin), it is definitely a place for celebrations. T & I first headed to o ya for our 4-year anniversary, then I took my college roommate, Amanda, here when she visited from California, and this recent trip was to celebrate my birthday. Located in the small Leather District of Boston (yes, it exists), Tim and Nancy Cushman have been dazzling diners since 2007 in their loft-like open space that seats 17 at the bar, and only 20 at tables. Reservations for these highly-coveted seats can be made online for the bar, but seats at the tables must be called ahead (and be sure to 3 months in advance of the date you wish to dine). To make o ya even more accomplished, this year Tim Cushman received the James Beard best chef of the Northeast award and once again o ya landed on Boston Magazine's 50 Best Restaurants list (unsurprising really after you have had the honor of tasting their innovative combinations).

With a small sign hanging a block or so from South Station, and a large unmarked wooden door, at first you may think you have mistaken the directions...but you are correct, and behind this large door is a magical restaurant where you will have a magical evening.
 

 

With many menu options to choose from (including an omakase chef's tasting and a grand tasting menu), you have the option to either mark up the menu and let them be brought out as prepared, or order like a tapas menu, a few orders at a time while you enjoy and decide your next steps. We marked our menus up and handed them over, trying some new items as well as some of our favorites (you can find the menus here). If you are unsure, the waiters and waitresses are very knowledgeable, helpful, and friendly!

We started with the Nantucket bay scallop sashimi 

with a coconut broth, a nice light start with a little kick

Soy marinated salmon with truffle oil & green onion

Hamachi with a spicy banana pepper mousse

Artic char with yuzu cured, smoked sesame brittle, cumin aioli

 & cilantro (this arrives to your table still smoking, a real show-stopper)

Scottish salmon with spicy sesame ponzu,

 yuzu kosho & scallion oil (T's favorite)

 

  
It was somewhere around here that an older gentleman, that was apparently out with a rowdy bunch of friends, approached our table and simply said "I just want you to take this...please take this"...and handed over his gold mask...

Confused we moved our focus back to the food! 
Next was the hamachi with a harissa sauce

Wild ivory king salmon with a spicy lemongrass

 curry sauce, toasted garlic & sesame

 Venison tataki with porcini crema & ponzu oil (my favorite)

Wild Santa Barbara spot prawn with garlic 

butter, white soy & preserved yuzu

 Langoustine tempura with ao nori, spicy 

langoustine sauce & lemon zest

House smoked moullard duck tataki with

 foie gras kabayaki & arima sansho

House smoked wagyu with yuzu soy

Onsen egg with dashi sauce, truffle salt 

& homemade pickled garlic

 

Tea brined fried pork ribs with hot

 sesame oil, honey & scallions

Yuzu brined chicken wing ballotine with napa cabbage 

and shiitake stuffing & house ramp kimchee

Shrimp tempura with bacon truffle emulsion 

& scallion ginger oil (my second favorite)

 

After our savory dishes were complete, we happily 

waited for the birthday dessert...

a chocolate pudding cake with banana

 tempura & goma gelato 

Full & satisfied we headed home to drink some sparkling wine by 

the fire to complete the birthday celebrations for this year.

 

Tweet Pin It Now!

brasstacks dinner

Monday night was my first Brasstacks dinner. I mentioned Brasstacks about two months ago here and won the lottery last month when I found out I had the chance to go to one of these legendary dinners. On Monday, Brasstacks held their last summer harvest dinner at Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge, where all items were local and mostly recently foraged by the chefs themselves. I headed over, giddy, grinning, and nervous...I had no idea how many people would be there, how many courses there would be, what should I wear? So many questions, so much excitement. 

T & I headed over to Formaggio Kitchen...it was dark, almost abandoned looking on the outside. We knocked...there was a pause...and then we were greeted and brought into a transformed space exuding warmth, acceptance, excitement, and friendliness (and immediately handed 2 glasses of sparkling wine mmmmm). There were 3 tables with about 10 seats each. Tightly squeezed in to promote conversation & perfectly positioned to see plating and preparing of each dish. We headed up to pick from the charcuterie and stared at everything in amazement, while our pre-meal treats waiting patiently for us.

 

 

The Formaggio Kitchen charcuterie consisted of linguica, chicken liver mousse, duck pate, served with Brasstacks pickles. Next we were introduced to our treats (from back left-right-front in the top picture): grilled cousa squash with sprouted grains, fennel & almond (my favorite); baked hyslop crabapple with chicken liver, cider vinegar & poppy seed; roasted new potato with cultured cream, shad roe & salt pork; and in front, the tomatoes with pickled chilis, elderflower vinegar & mint (T's favorite). Also shown are the tasty snack of the husk cherries roasted in salt pork. All were presented on natural plates of slabs of birch branches and stones.

Next, we moved onto the first course (all of which were paired with a respective wine): soused bluefish with cucumbers, horseradish & pretty nasturtium.

 

Next was my favorite dish of the night, I could really eat a large portion of this every day and never get sick of it: sweet corn samp with Maine crab, bayberry leaf, sea urchin and samphire. Pretty much perfection in a bowl.

Woven between the courses were explanations and derivations of the plates, all drawing inspiration from old New England fare and techniques. Also woven in were the seemingly endless glasses of wine. Next was the matelote of Spanish mackerel with eggplant, barley & tomato relish.

 

The final savory course of the evening was my almost-tied-for-first (and T's favorite) course of silver Cornish chicken roasted in wild juniper with chicken mushroom, fermented broccoli & a bread sauce. Also, it was obviously one of the prettiest dishes.

 

 

The local cheese course was provided by Formaggio Kitchen, and was delicious, because really...who doesn't love cheese? Brebis Blanche, Tarentaise, and Brother's Walk. Obviously not the best picture because I was too excited to get started.

The final course was the Maine chocolate potato cake with sheep milk, wild grapes & black walnut. While being plated, it resembled Saturn and I had no problem finishing this dish whatsoever.

 

 

 

After a long & memorable night, we were stuffed full of wine, tasty food, and new information. We were introduced to many new foraged foods and interesting people. For professional pictures taken of the event check their facebook page... and remember, if you want to be entered into the lottery for a chance to go to one of these amazing dinners, friend Brasstacks Boston on Facebook, you will thank me 2,723 times if you win.

Tweet Pin It Now!