Caprese Salad on Stick

Here is a salad on a stick recipe that I recently brought to a potluck barbeque. This salad recipe is so easy to make, healthy to gorge into, and tasty to savour and enjoy. It’s actually a salad that originates back in Italy and is usually seasoned only with salt, black pepper, and olive oil. However I decided to top it with a homemade BALSAMIC VINEGAR dressing to compliment the sweetness of the CHERRY TOMATOES, the subtle peppery flavour of BASIL and the creaminess of the bocconcini.  BOCCONCINI is a type of mild unripended cheese like mozzarella. Traditionally it is made with buffalo’s milk but nowadays it’s made using a combination of both cow's and buffalo's milk.  This salad recipe is very easy to prepare. Not only is it fit for a summer barbeque but a good starter to any meal.  Enjoy the summer!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp. brown sugar

4 tbsp. olive oil

rock salt

ground black pepper

3 tubs of bocconcini (about 56 pieces)

2 tubs of cherry tomatoes 

fresh basil leaves

27 small wooden skewers

Directions:

In a small sauce pan add the balsamic vinegar and brown sugar. Let is simmer for a while until the brown sugar disolves in medium heat. Once sugar has dossolved remove from heat and whisk in the  olive oil until it emulsifies. Add salt and pepper according to your taste.  

Place tomatoes, basil and bocconcini alternately into the wooden skewers and top it off with the balsamic dressing. Refrigerate before serving. Enjoy!

Spring Mix Salad with Low Fat Dill Dressing

Here is a simple recipe for a green salad and a low fat dill sour cream dressing. This salad is very filling. It can be serve as a meal in itself or as a side to any dish. Pair it with roasted chicken, seared pork tenderloins or any fish dish. It's simply amazing!

The dressing in this recipe yields about three cups and it stores very well. It can be used any time as a sauce or garnish for basically anything that desires some creaminess without indulging in too much fat. Use  the dressing as a topping to baked potatoes or as a dip to fresh vegetables.

For the salad:
Yields 5 large individual servings

500 grams mixed greens
250 grams seedless graped or cherry tomatoes ( whatever is available)
300 grams sliced ham, sauteed with a bit of olive oil and a 2 tablespoon jam (Any jam will do but I used strawberry jam)
Low Fat Sour Cream Dressing
5 hard boiled eggs, sliced into lengthwise in quarters

Directions:

Plate mixed greens. Top the salad with grapes, ham and hard boiled eggs. Dredge over sour cream dressing.

For the Low Fat Dill Dressing:

2 cups or 500 ml low fat sour cream
1/2 cup low fat mayonnaise  (I used home made aioli. Recipe follows)
1 T coarse grain Dijon mustard
1 big bunch of dill weed, chopped
1/4 cup honey
1 T lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a big bowl add the sour cream, mayonnaise, mustard and dill. Mix well until combined. Add honey and lemon juice. Mix well. Season with salt and pepper to suit ones taste.

Aioli (Garlic Mayonnaise):

3 large cloves of garlic, peeled
1 egg yolk and 1 egg
1 cup canola oil 1 teaspoon vinegar
salt and pepper

Directions:


In a blender, add the garlic and 1/4 cup oil. Blend until the garlic has liquefied. Add in the eggs and blend. While blending add the olive oil very slowly, if possible drop by drop. This is key to the success of the mayonnaise.

Do not not rush to ensure the oil

and the egg mixture emulsifies to

a thick consistency.

Fluffly Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

If you love light fluffy cupcakes with a buttery flavour then this recipe if for you. These cupcakes will not weigh you down unlike eating one dense cupcake. I adapted my recipe from James Peterson's Baking cookbook. I paired the cup cakes with a delicate vanilla butter cream frosting.

BTW before I forget I made use of a kitchen aid stand mixer when I made these cupcakes. You can make them using a hand held mixer.
Warning! It's difficult to stop eating these unless you give them away!

For the cake:
Yields 20 - 21 cupcakes

1 1/4 cup cake flour
1 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
3 large eggs, separated
2/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of cream of tartar, unless using a copper bowl

Directions:

Pre-heat over to 350 degrees F.  Line muffin pans with cupcake tins. Set aside.

In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt and wisk to combine.

Cream butter and 3/4 cup sugar with a heavy spoon, a handheld mixer, or a stand mixer with a paddle attachment until the butter softens and switch to a whisk thereafter. Continue whisking for about 5 minutes. Add in egg yolks one at a time until the mixture is smooth. Alternately add the milk and vanilla and continue to whisk adding the flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time. Add in the canola oil and continue mixing. Transfer the egg mixture to larger bowl to make folding egg whites easier later on.

Beat the egg whites, cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Soft peaks would mean the peaks fall over when the wire whip is removed. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons sugar until medium peaks form. Medium peaks would mean sharps peaks form when wire whip is removed but actually the whites are still soft and not stiff.

With a rubber spatula, fold 1/4 of the egg whites to the egg mixture prepared earlier to lighten the batter. Then gently fold in the remaining egg whites. Scoop 1/4 cup batter to each of the cupcakes tins. Bake the cupcakes from 15 - 20 minutes or when the cupcakes cool. Remember each oven works different so careful not to over cook or under cook. A good way to test the cupcakes is to insert a toothpick or a small steak knife in the middle cupcake and if it comes out clean then your cakes are cooked.

Set aside to cool.

Vanilla Butter Cream Frosting:

I  adapted my recipe from James Peterson's but reduced the sugar 1/2 cup less.

For the icing:

1 1/2 cups sugar ( original recipe called for 2 cups)
2/3 cups water or more as needed
8 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups cold butter, cut into small cubes
1 tsp good vanilla extract
a dash of salt (This is not in the original recipe but I added this to liven the sweetness of the frosting)
Food color (optional)

Directions:

In a small sauce pan, combine the sugar and water. Simmer over medium heat.

While syrup is cooking. In a stand mixer using a whisk attachment, beat the egg yolks until they quadrupled in volume and becomes very pale in color.

While egg yolks are beating check the syrup. It should be simmered to boil lightly into a 'soft ball' consistency. This means that if a small amount of syrup is added to a bowl of water the syrup actually forms into a (soft) ball that can be formed ( it should not harden). The consistency you are looking for is a medium think consistency. To the test of adding a small portion into water to achieve the soft ball stage.

When the syrup and yolks are ready, turn the mixer into high speed and pour the mixture into the yolks in between the the whisk and the sides of the bowl. It is important to keep the syrup from hitting the bowl or the whisk or else it will harden. Obviously this is unavoidable where a few drops may stick to it. But be careful when adding the syrup; we want it to blend into the egg mixture.

Turn down mixer to medium speed and add the a few pieces of butter until it gets incorporated into the frosting. If you want to add some color, just drop in a few liquid food color until you get the hint you are looking for. Continue beating for 10 more minutes until the frosting becomes light and fluffy.

Once the cupcakes have cooled. Pipe the icing into the cupcakes. Enjoy!

Roasted Red Bell Pepper Hummus

I love hummus! It's so good that I can eat it all day long. Hummus is a middle eastern spread made from chick peas (i.e. garbanzos as others call it). It makes a perfect dip sans the cream, the cheese, the mayo and everything the usual dip has that we are accustomed to. Not only does it have tons of protein from the chickpeas but it is vegetarian as well.

This is spread is something you can easily whip and store in your fridge. Indulge in it every time you are craving for something to dunk your favorite bread, chips, veggies, or pita bread. It tastes soo good that I go as far as making it my sandwich spread and unbelievably when I eat it I do not crave for anything but more of it!

Traditionally hummus has tahini sauce which is a sesame paste. I am not really fond of it so I opted out. But for this hummus recipe I made, I've added roasted red bell pepper to add some flavour and garlic. Some recipes may call for roasting the garlic but I prefer the pungency of raw garlic as it adds a slight kick to the taste.

For the Hummus:

1/2 cup flavorless oil, I used canola oil
3 large garlic cloves, peeled and mashed
1 roasted red bell pepper
Juice of half a lemon
1 can of cooked chick peas (540 ml)
Salt
Freshly cracked black pepper
10 pita bread, toasted in a pan and sliced in triangular shapes

Directions:

Drain the chick peas and discard juice. Slightly mash them with a fork. Set aside.

In a blender, add half of the canola oil followed by the roasted bell pepper and the garlic cloves. Blend the first three ingredients until they form a paste. Add in the mashed chick peas little by little. If you find that your blender does not budge due to the thickness of the chick peas, turn off blender, remove blender from the motor and loosen the mixture with a spoon. While blending pour in little by little the remaining canola oil.
Blend the mixture well until you get a soft consistency. Add in the lemon. Season with salt and pepper.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Hotdog! Today I was feeling 'christmasy' while I as in the mall hearing Christmas songs! To go with the holiday season and yuletide spell, I decided to make bright red vanilla cup cakes. These are simply known as Red Velvet Cupcakes and topped them with cream cheese frosting.

I actually have been thinking of baking something over the weekend but only found time today. I picked up  ideas on how to make these cupcakes while browsing through a couple of cookbooks at Chapters but I edited the version to suit my taste.

Before we move on to the actual recipe, here is a brief introduction on these cup cakes.. These adorable red cakes were made famous by Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York back in the early 1920's. Some recipes I've seen pair this with butter cream frosting but for me cream cheese frosting is the ultimate topping to this elegant cup .cake.

This cup cake has a mellow hint of chocolate but it should not taste like chocolate cake. It is in fact a plain cake but made gorgeous by the red food color and by the hint of darkness cocoa gives. You may be surprised that my cake recipe does not use butter but truly I tell you canola oil works magic when making cupcakes. Butter dries out cakes fast but oil gives moisture. So here goes. I hope you enjoy making them but most especially eating them!

For the cake:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (when measuring flour don't scoop from the bag or container. But pour flour it into the cup. This ensures you do not have too much flour than what the recipe requires).
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. dark unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 cup canola oil
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup butter milk
2 large eggs
4 tsp. red liquid food color
1 1/4 tsp. white vinegar
2 T vanilla
1/8 cup water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line cupcake or muffin pans with cupcake tins. Set aside.

In a smaller bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cocoa. Set aside.

In a bigger bowl, whisk together oil, sugar, and butter milk until combined.

Add in the eggs, vinegar, vanilla, water and the red food color.

Mix the dry ingredients in three parts and stir until combined.

Pour mixture in prepared cupcake pans.

This recipe yields 22 - 24.

Pop it in the over and bake for 22 - 25 minutes or until a cake tester or knife comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let it cool before frosting.

Pipe icing into the cupcakes but leave room for the cupcakes to be visible as it creates a great contrast to  the white icing.

Cream cheese frosting:

1 8 oz, Philadelphia cream cheese
1/2 cup unsweetened butter, softened
salt to taste
1 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

Cream together cream cheese, butter and salt with a hand mixer. Add in the confectioners sugar and vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy.

Pour inside a piping bag or sandwich bags. An easy way to fill the bag with frosting is to use a tall glass and line it with the piping bag or sandwich bag. Using a spatula add in the frosting. Place in the fridge for a few minutes to cool before icing the cupcakes. Cut one end of the bag before frosting.

Baked Sole with Barley Vegetable Brunoise

I served this dish as a main entree when my Mom came for a visit. This post is basically a combination of two recipes, the fish and the barley. I decided to write both recipes in one post since they pair so well.

This recipe is a charmingly simple dish but flavourful and tasty. My recipe was adapted from Food Network's Chuck Hughes. However I adjusted mine to keep up with the availability of ingredients I had from my own pantry.

The fillet of sole was placed over a bed of barley brunoise. Barley brunoise may sound glamourized but actually it's not. Barley is a cereal grain when cooked has a pleasant chewy, pasta-like consistency. Brunoise because the vegetables added to the barley was cut into very fine small cubes. It is a culinary knife cut where you julienne food and dice it into small cubes usually 1 to 3 mm small. When making this dish, it's important that the vegetable cut is consistent in size and shape since it creates a pleasing presentation.

 

Barley is an everyday twist you can feed your family, a side you can bring to picnics, and a good alternative to potatoes, rice or pasta.

For the filet of sole 

4 filets of sole

4 tablespoons canola oil

salt and pepper

For the mustard sauce 

5 tablespoons butter

3 tbsp. olive oil
2 shallots, minced

3 tablespoons caper, minced

2 tablespoons coarse grain mustard

1/2 cup water

salt and pepper

For the barley and vegetable brunoise
5 tablespoons butter

1 cup barley

1 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 1/4 cup carrot, diced

1 red or yellow pepper, diced

2 stalk celery, diced

1 chicken cube

Directions for the filet of sole:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Place sole on the tray and season both sides with oil, salt and pepper.  Cook in the oven for 8 minutes or until the fish is cooked.

Directions for the mustard capers sauce

Bring pan to medium high heat. Add olive oil. Saute the shallots until it becomes transluscent. Add capers, mustard and water. Bring to a boil and reduced by half. Add butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Season with salt and pepper.

Barley and Vegetable Brunoise

Cook barley per package instructions. Rinse barley in water and drain. Mix 1 cup of barley with 3 cups of water and bring to a boil. Once it has boiled, reduce to medium to low heat and simmer until the barley is tender and cooked. Set aside.

Bring a large pan into medium high heat. Add the butter and saute the vegetables for about 10 minutes. Add barley and the chicken cube. Season with pepper. Mix well. Cook mixture unil veggies are soft in  consistency.

Serve by plating barley topped with the sole filet and garnish with the sauce.

Garlic Soup and Artichoke Crouton

My Mom came for a visit and I decided to cook something special for her.  I decided to create a dinner by adapting from Chuck Hugh's recipe. As a starter, I made garlic soup topped with artichoke crostini. For the main entree, I made baked sole with capers and mustard sauce paired with barley brunoise. Truly this made my Mom smile and it's better than dining out!

Here is a recipe for the garlic soup. This soup has such beautiful richness that a small serving is good enough to satisfy your guests. Beware! this starter will create high expectations and keep your family thinking you're a kitchen genius.

Serves 4
For the garlic soup:

2 large galirc head cut in half (use the largest you can find)
3/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp. flour
3 cups chicken stock ( I made my own by boiling uncooked chicken bones).
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
salt and pepper

For the artichoke crostini:

1 can artichokes
1/4 cup olive oil + 2 tbsp
1 shallot, sliced
half a bunch of parsley, chopped
8 thick sliced of crusty bread
200 grams mild cheddar cheese
salt and pepper

Directions for the garlic soup:

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a small pan, pour the olive oil and place each half garlic head facing flat in the oil.

Roast the garlic in the oven for about 40 minutes or until the garlic is soft throughout and nicely browned.

Remove from the oven and let it cook for awhile before you remove the skins from the garlic. Remove half of the oil and set it aside (this half will be used for the croutons). Mash the garlic in the remaining oil.



In a pan over medium high heat add the mashed garlic and its oil. Add the flour and cook for 2 minutes.

Add the chicken stock and thyme, bring to a boil and then let simmer for 15 minutes until the soup achieves a nice soup consistency. Season with salt and pepper.

Direction for the artichoke crostini:

Artichoke Croutons

Bring a pan to medium high heat and pour 2 tbp. olive oil. add the artichokes and shallots.  Sautee until the onions caramelized. Add in the parsley. Saute. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 dregrees.

Brush the bread slices with the garlic infused olive oil ( lots of it). In another pan, bring it a medium high heat and add bread slices. (If there are remaining garlic infused oil, add it in the pan).  Brown the bread slices until the exterior turns crunchy golden brown. Remove from pan.

Top the bread slices with the artichoke topping and cheese. Pop it in the oven for a few minutes until cheese is melted.

Brush the slices of bread with the remaining garlic infused oil, garnish with the sauteed artichoke and cheese. Grill in the oven until the cheese is melted and slightly golden brown.

When ready to serve, place a small amount of soup and top it with the artichoke crouton.



Enjoy!

Vanilla Bundt Cake

Tis’ the holiday season and kitchen disasters are just around the corner. Unfortunately, I had one when I decided to make a Bundt cake as a gift for some VIPs :). Later on I found out that it was undercooked and overly sweet to the liking of the gift recipients :(. Now every time I get home from work I would bake a Bundt cake because I really want to perfect the recipe and never again give something that awful! Here I am back at blogging because I have made a success trying out  variations of a recipe I have been playing with the last few weeks. I adapted the recipe from King Arthur Flour’s Lemon Cake but this time I tweaked it a bit to suit my taste. Instead of a lemon cake I made vanilla bundt cake and added additional butter to it. After countless disasters, now I have my own recipe to keep. Hopefully the next time I give this as a gift, it’s a perfect ten.

Trust me, I’ve tried a lot of variations for the last few weeks. I was only able to jump and say ‘Eureka’ yesterday! But first let me tell you the misfortunes I’ve been through.  I played around with the type of flour to use. I tried all-purpose flour and the cake came out floury in taste, too dense and not at all buttery. I then tried unbleached flour  and it came out too crumbly. But the one thing that ultimately worked for me is cake flour. I guess it was a no brainer to use cake flour since I am making cake. But you can’t blame me for trying different types since as a cook you want to try out the possibilities out there and if possible make substitutes to the recipe. But one humbling thing I learned from baking cakes is never underestimate the science in it. Unlike cooking where substitutes are possible, baking is a totally different arena. Measurements are needed and using the right type of ingredients are a must.

I also encountered the cake sticking to the Bundt pan. So I did research and figured that by using non-stick spray and sifting a bit of flour into the pan works best. This avoids the cake from sticking to the ringed, fluted, grooved pan. Not to say the least, another disaster I had was when I turned it upside down, the cake was sliced into two! If I had glue I wish I could have salvage it but too bad I cannot.

BTW, the best time to turn the pan upside down and remove the cake from the pan is  10 minutes after removing the cake from the oven.  If you let it stay there too long you have the chances of the cake sticking to the pan. While if you do it right away there’s a possibility that the  cake will be cut in half.

Chances are everyone will have different experiences when baking something (due to the type of oven we use, the type of pan, the virtue of patience one has). But I have been making the same recipe below for the last 2 days and all I can say is that it’s perfect. I brought them to work and left them at the pantry. They were wiped out in a flash! I had to check the garbage bin to see if it was a hit or miss but indeed this recipe satisfied everyone..because the first time I made it I saw 2 pieces thrown into the bin :). No need to ask just check the bin!

Now a days, cakes are getting fancier and fancier. Am not going to be surprised if the next fad is a cough syrup cake (LOL!). But as always in me, I want to go back to the basics first and perfect something before I move on to greater things :). Also I want a recipe that I can keep and pass on to my loved ones. (Here it is Mom!) a classic Bundt cake. You can’t go wrong giving this as a gift for the holiday. Young and old will like it and it can be made into many varieties like a marble cake, lemon poppy seed cake, rum cake or whatever you fancy. I am currently experimenting on a marble cake so the recipe should follow later on :)

Now bring it on!

For the cake:

3 cups, all cake flour (no compromise)

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

1 ½ cups unsalted butter, softened 

2 cups granulated sugar

3 T pure vanilla extract

4 large eggs, room temperature

Confectioner’s sugar for dusting

Directions:

Grease a 9 – 10 cup non-stick Bundt pan with cooking spray

Pre-heat oven to 530 degrees.

I used a hand mixer to combine the ingredients.

In a small bowl, scoop cake flour into the measuring cup (not the other way around). This will ensure you have just the right amount of flour and do not add too much flour into your batter.  If you scoop flour using your measuring cup chances are you are adding too much than what the recipe calls for.

Add in the baking powder and the salt. Set aside.

In a bigger bowl, add the sugar and butter together. Beat until light and fluffy. Stir in the vanilla.

Break each egg and add one. Mixing at to ensure they are incorporated well.

Pour in the flour  and the milk alternately. Starting with the flour and end with flour.

Pour the batter in to the greased pan carefully.

Place at the center of the oven rack and bake for 50 – 60 minutes or until the cake tester comes out clean. 

After 10 minutes, place a plate on top of the cake pan. Turn it upside down and tap on the cake pan. Gently pull out the pan. Voila...you have yourself a bundt cake.

With a sifter dust powdered or confectioner's sugar on the cake. Slice and enjoy!

Fried Green Tomatoes

If you are a child of the 80's (like me!) then you would popularly call in mind 'Fried Green Tomatoes'  as the movie that starred Mary Stuart Masteron, Mary-Louise Parker and Kathy Bates instead of referring to the delicacy in the deep south. This chick flick was pretty popular back in the early nineties right :)? Am not sure if it appeals to the new generation but the drama, comedy and the twist in the story on what really happened to bad Frank is pretty gritty. I have watched the movie more than twice and movies filmed in the old south (not only the food) has appeal to me.

Anyway, since this is a food blog and not the rottentomatoes.com review site, the movie has to take a backseat for now. Let us make tomatoes the protagonist this time!

Green tomatoes are common in the summer and will not be readily available in the local supermarket at this time of the year. However, I knew I still had to go to St. Lawrence Market in case I am lucky. My positive thinking did pay off. I did get them but not easily.  I talked to a vegetable lady to get me some unripened tomatoes. Luckily she was very helpful and we both dug up around the pile of vine ripened red tomatoes ( a certain type of tomato variety) and found some green ones sticking out from the red clumps. I was pretty happy myself to get me four, good, green, hard tomatoes.  I went home happily carrying my produce and was excited to cook and munch on some of these tangy, sweet and crispy goodness :)

After frying, I drizzled them with honey and topped with sour cream!

For the fried green tomatoes

4 medium to large unripened tomatoes (vine ripened tomatoes variety)
1/2 cup flour, season with any dry spice you have or prefer. ( I used chipotle pepper, paprika, chili and garlic powder).
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 cup fine bread crumbs
canola oil for frying
salt and pepper
sour cream
honey

Direction:

Wash tomatoes and sliced into 1/4 inch think. Pat dry. Season with lots of ground black pepper.

In a bowl beat eggs and mix in milk. Prepare wide mouth bowls and add in the flour in one bowl. Scoop the bread crumbs in another bowl.

Individually work on each tomato slice by dipping it in flour. Then dip it in the egg and milk mixture. Dredge it in the breadcrumb mixture. Be gentle when handling the tomatoes so the breadcrumb coating stays.

In a skillet, add the oil and bring to medium high heat. When the oil is hot (not hot enough to burn your coating)  add the coated tomatoes. Fry in batches and do not put them close to each other. When the coating on one side if golden brown, flip and do the same for the other side.

Place the tomatoes in a plate lined with paper napkins to absorb the oil.

Drizzle the fried tomatoes with honey. Serve with sour cream on the side. Enjoy!

Pasta Salad

It's Monday again! Here I was staring at the contents of the fridge after arriving from work, trying to figure out what I can come up for dinner. I wanted to use any ingredients that need to be eaten before anything gets spoiled. I was pondering on making broccoli cheesy bake but wanted to use the cheese I had for another recipe. I decided to come up with an easy pasta salad that was not heavy, nor cheesy but healthy. Pasta is not all about loading it with cheese. In lieu of it, I used toasted bread crumbs to add some flavour to the dish. This pasta salad can be eaten hot or cold which ever way your prefer it.
For the pasta ingredients

1 lb. pasta, cooked according to to package instructions
1/2 lb broccoli, sliced
1/4 lb cauliflower
8 sun dried tomatoes, sliced thinly
6 garlic gloves, minced finely
2 tsp. dried chili flakes
2/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
1 small red onion, chopped
240 grams crab meat (you may use canned salmon)
3 T balsamic vinegar ( don't omit this, its key ingredient to add flavour to this dish)
lots of salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Pre heat oven to 375 degress.

In a baking sheet add panko bread crumbs.

In a bowl, combined brocolli, cauliflower, sun dried tomatoes, onions, chili flakes, ground black pepper and 1/3 cup of olive oil. Mix until the olive oil coats the vegetables. Transfer to a baking sheet.

Pop the panko in the oven and the vegetable mix. Bake the bread crumbs for 5 minutes or until gold brown. Bake the veggies for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, add the pasta. Pour in the veggies and mix well. Season with  lots of salt and pepper to suit your taste. Add the balsamic vinegar and the the remaining 1/3 cup olive oil. Mix in the crab meat gently.

Topped with panko bread crumbs. Enjoy!