Chilled Lemon Shrimp Pasta Salad

Leo — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:59:41 +0000

If your place is like mine, it’s oppressively hot in the summer, even with the air conditioning running. So the last thing you want to do is add more heat by cooking. Still, unless you want to subsist on a steady diet of deli meats and fast food all summer, you’re going to have to turn that stove on some time. Although, now that I think about it, eating more fast food would give me an excuse to loiter and soak up that sweet, cool, air-conditioned atmosphere… Ah, who am I kidding? They all kick you out after the first couple of hours anyway.

The key to summer cooking is to cook for as short as possible, do it as early in the day as possible, then forget about it and spend the rest of the day competing with the dog for the primo spot on the sofa right next to the A/C vent. This recipe fits the bill. To its advantage, it happens to be quite tasty too and literally takes under a half hour to make (including the time it takes the water to come to a boil). Now move over dog, it’s my turn!

Chilled Lemon Shrimp Pasta Salad

Ingredients

16 oz. fettucine, cooked, drained and cooled
16 oz. medium shrimp, peeled, deveined (frozen cocktail shrimp work great!)
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup Italian salad dressing
1/2 cup fresh parsely, chopped
1/2 cup red onion, finely chopped
2 tsp. Cajun seasoning
1 tsp. ground black pepper (or to taste)

Preparation

Toss the shrimp and lemon juice in a large bowl (I do this ahead of time and refrigerate to allow the shrimp to soak up the lemony goodness)
Mix everything else together, except the pasta
Toss the mayonnaise mix with the fettucine and shrimp
Cover and refrigerate salad, 1 to 2 hours

DIY Casa Salad?

Leo — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 02:20:13 +0000

As we mentioned in our review of Casa D’Angelo, the Casa family of restaurants’ salad is rather famous in the Fort Wayne area. So famous that at least three people have found Food In The Fort by searching for a recipe for Casa salad. Unfortunately, Casa’s salad dressing recipe is a family secret that the Casaburos are unlikely to share with these two bloggers any time soon so we can’t help you out. On the other hand, we were pleased to find that the Journal Gazette has been publishing this reasonable facsimile of the recipe that might, just might, be locked away in the deep, dark wine cellars on Fairfield Ave. Thanks to the magic of Google and Vicky for this recipe. Makes just about a quart (of dressing, not salad).

Mock Casaburo Salad
Ingredients

6 anchovies
8 oz. white wine vinegar
3/4 tsp. oregano
1 1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tbsp. salt
1 1/4 oz sugar (a little more than 1/8 cup)
1 1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1/4 cup corn starch
1 pt. (16oz) vegetable oil

Preparation

Blend everything but the oil together in your blender
Add the oil a few ounces at a time, pulsing in between to incorporate the oil (or just add it in a stream if you’re lucky enough to have one of those fancy blenders with a little window in the top for adding liquids)
Shred up some iceberg and Romaine lettuce, chop some sweet red pepper and green onions.
Add some shredded cheese, croutons (Catherine says, “Don’t forget the bacon bits!”), and chill until dinner time
Add dressing to taste about 15 minutes before serving. Casa seems to drench their salad pretty well, but you might find yourself squeezing by with a little bit less

Photo credit: Anna’s Cool Finds.

Food In The Fort » salad

Chilled Lemon Shrimp Pasta Salad

DIY Casa Salad?