Shrimp Salad Sandwiches

Want a quick and easy dinner for those hot days of summer? Try this sandwich. 

Shrimp Salad Sandwiches
16 shrimp, 21-25 count 
2 tbs light mayo
1 tbs light sour cream
1 green onion, white and green parts finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1/4 Dill weed
2 slices tomato
2 lettuce leaves
2 buns

Makes enough for 2 sandwiches.
Boil shrimp. When they are cooked rinse under cold water. Cut he shrimp into 2 or 3 pieces.
Mix everything except tomato, lettuce and buns in a bowl. Place lettuce and tomato on bun. Then spread the shrimp mixture on the bun.

Mussels

Ok this makes the third week I've posted a Fathers Day recipe. This one was the winner, the one I celebrated Father's Day with. This was one of those recipes that I made up as I went along so measurements are estimates. The mussels are cooked in a wine and tomato broth. A love a big bowl of mussels all open and ready to be eaten. Open mussels remind me of venus flytraps, I am just waiting for one to grab my fork as I go to pull the meat out.
Note: You should make about 1/2 to 3/4 pound of mussels per person. The recipe below is for 2 people. Clean and de-beard mussels. If any mussels are open and won't close when pinched throw them out. After cooking watch for any mussels that don't open and discard. I like the spice of chorizo sausage any spicy sausage will work. Today I had a kielbasa sausage, which is mild. I added 1/8 tsp of crushed red pepper to the onions and garlic when I added that to give me the kick I wanted.
Mussels
1 chorizo sausage, cut into bite size pieces
1 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup onion, diced
2 coves garlic, minced
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper if using see note
2/3 cup white wine, I used Pinot Grigio
1/3 cup crushed tomato from can
1 tomato, diced
1 1/2 pounds Mussels

Heat large skillet to medium high. Add oil and the sausage and cook until it starts to brown. If using full fat sausage you might be able to cook sausage without oil, then add oil with onions. Then add onions, garlic and red pepper (if using). Cook onion mixture until onions are soft. When onions are soft add the crushed tomato and wine. When wine and tomato start to bubble add the tomato, shrimp and mussels. Cook until the shrimp are cooked through and the mussels are open. If you got good mussels most will open in under 5 minutes. Arrange mussels in bowl. then pour sauce and other goodies (tomatoes, sausage and shrimp) over the mussels. Garnish with parsley.

  

Breakfast in Bread

With Mother's Day upon us here is a simple breakfast that looks very special. You can use a heart cookie cutter instead of the round biscuit cutter mentioned in the recipe.

Breakfast in Bread

1 egg, fried or poached
1 tsp olive oil
1 stalk of asparagus
1 piece Canadian Bacon or about 1 oz of ham chopped
3 cherry tomatoes, 1/2 or 1 tbs of diced tomato
2 tsp parmesan cheese, finely grated
1 slice of toast
Non-stick spray

This recipe is for 1 egg, you can multiple by however many eggs you are making. You will need a biscuit cutter (or cookie cutter, I used round but any shape will do) a little less than the width of a piece of toast. If you have 2 biscuit cutters the same size and shape it will be even easier.

In a pan put 1 tsp of olive oil and heat to a shimmer add the asparagus and ham. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes. cook for another 2 minutes, until ham starts to brown. Set aside.

Start making your egg, if you are frying spray the cutter with the non-stick spray and place with the non-cutting side down in the pan. Crack the egg into the cutter. This will keep the egg shape the same size as the hole in the toast. Start the toast. Cook egg to desired doneness. When egg is done carefully remove egg from cutter. Then use cutter to cut a whole in the toast. Remove the piece of toast that you cut out and put toast on plate. Put egg in the hole in the toast. Now top with ham, asparagus, tomato mixture. Sprinkle the parmesan over the whole toast.

Grilled Polenta Cakes

Now that May is here it is time for weddings, graduations and Air Force inductions. Well ok most of you don't have any Air Force inductions coming up, but we do. My son, Joel, is graduating from college and getting inducted into the Air Force. If you have been reading my blog for awhile you might remember that he already completed 4 years in the Marines, but that wasn't good enough for him he decided he wanted to be a pilot. So he is going into the Air Force now to become a pilot. We also have a wedding coming up. So in the next couple of weeks my posts maybe kind of sporadic. In the meantime enjoy this appetizer that is consistently one of my most viewed recipes.


Grilled Polenta Cakes with Bruschetta Topping

Tomato Topping
2 tomatoes, cut into a small dice
2 tbs Kalamata olives, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
4 basil leaves, cut into fine ribbons

Add all ingredients to a bowl and drizzle with enough olive oil to coat thourghly coat the mixture.

Polenta Cakes
Make polenta according to the package or your regular method. Then pour it into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish, that has been sprayed with no-stick spray. Let the polenta cool for a few minutes and then refrigerate so it will firm up. After polenta has firmed up use a 2 1/2 to 3 inch cookie cutter or a glass with an equivalent opening to cut out the cakes.
Preheat the grill to medium high.
Take the polenta cakes and put them on a well oiled grill, to prevent them from sticking. Cook until polenta has good grill marks and then flip them over and cook until you get the grill marks again.
Top each polenta cake with the tomato mixture.

Lentil and Sausage Soup

My wife and I have given up going out for New Years, we just spend the evening at home. We have a nice dinner, usually lobster of some kind. Open a bottle of presecco with the lobster and finish it at midnight. Presecco is a sparkling wine from Italy. It is sweet and tastes very much like Asti if you have had that. Presecco is the traditional alcohol used for making Bellini's. My wife and I prefer it over champaign. This year only one of us made it past 10:30 PM, but I won't embarrass my wife by telling you she fell asleep at 9:00 PM slept until 10:00. Then she watched most of the news and then went upstairs to bed.
For New Years Day we had a bowl of sausage and lentil soup. Lentils and pork (the sausage) are both considered symbols of good luck in Italy. Lentils are also a symbol for money. I don't know anybody who doesn't want good luck and money so it just seems like a good idea to start the new year.

Lentil and Sausage Soup
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 lb. Cotechino Sausage, or any pork sausage cut into small dice
1 medium carrot, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 large clove garlic, thinly sliced see note
1/2 pt cherry tomatoes, halved
2 14.5 oz cans Lentils or 1 pound dried
3 cups water
salt, to taste
crushed red pepper, to taste

Note: I don't use cherry tomatoes I use canned "small tomatoes from the hillside" from Italy. These tomatoes have been peeled and are grown on the mountainside in volcanic soil. So you can peel you cherry tomatoes or find pomodorini di collina on the internet or eat an Italian import store like I did. The brand that I have is Annalisa.
In a dutch oven over medium heat add the olive oil. When olive oil is hot add the sausage and cook for 3 minutes. Add the carrot, celery, garlic and tomatoes. Cook for 10 minutes until vegetables are soft. Add the lentils and water, bring soup to simmer, cook for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Season with salt and crushed red pepper. 

Mexican Salad

I love it when I get to go to the Farmers Market, it always inspires me to make something great for dinner.   There are several parts to this recipe but most are easy and can be made in a couple of minutes so don't panic. 

Mexican Salad

Chicken

1 batch of Mexican Chicken, this if from my other blog

Salad

1 tortilla, per person

1 cup lettuce, torn into bite size pieces per person

1 oz Queso Fresco per person

Heat a frying pan over high heat. After the pan gets hot throw the tortilla in it. When the starts to bubble and get some color on it flip it over and cook until other side starts to brown. Remove and do the same to the remaining tortillas.

Salsa

2 Tomatoes, chopped into small pieces (I used 1 heirloom and 1 yellow)

1/2 to 1 jalapeno, chopped into very small pieces

1 tbs red onion, chopped into small pieces

1 tbs cilantro, finely chopped

Mix all of the ingredients together and let it sit for a few minutes for flavors to mingle. You can use store bought or your own recipe if you want. I do recommend fresh when tomatoes and peppers are in season.

Guacamole

2 small avocados, peeled, sliced into pieces

1/2 lime, juiced

1/2 tsp cumin

1 tbs red onion, finely chopped

10 cherry tomatoes, cut in 1/2

1 tbs Cilantro, finely chopped

As soon as the avocados are cut and peeled squeeze the lime juice on them, to prevent them from oxidizing. Mash the avocados with a potato maser. Fold in the remaining ingredients. 

To assemble put tortilla on plate top with the lettuce. Then add the chicken top with guacamole and salsa. Sprinkle with the Queso Fresco.

Shrimp and Red Pepper Pasta

Here is a weeknight meal you can make in less than 1/2 hour. It's light and tasty making it great for these hot days of summer.
Shrimp and Red Pepper Pasta
15 - 20 Shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 roasted red pepper, cut into small pieces
3 Roma Tomatoes, cut into small pieces
1 Tbs Lemon Olive Oil, plus some for drizzling
4 oz of pasta, 2 oz is approximately 1 serving, I used whole wheat Angel Hair

Put the past water on to boil.

Clean the shrimp and cut the vegetables. Toss the shrimp and vegetables in a bowl with the oil. Heat a pan for the shrimp mixture.

Toss the pasta in the water to cook. When the pasta has about 5 minutes left throw the shrimp and veggies in the pan and cook them.


Remove the pasta from the boiling water and drain. Toss the pasta with the shrimp and vegetables. and plate. I garnished with baby basil leaves and then drizzled a little of the lemon olive oil over the pasta.

Tilapia Packets

This is an easy and fast dish that can be served during the week. Best of all it's healthy.

Tilapia Packets
2 tilapia fillets
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes with juice
10-15 Kalamata olives, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbs onion, chopped
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/4 dry white wine
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat grill to medium high heat.
Create a packet out of foil. I have told you how to do this before, but if you have a short memory like me. Take a 4 foot long piece of aluminum foil. Fold it in half, so you now have a 2 foot ling piece. Fold the sides over 1 inch. Fold the sides a second time 1 inch. Fold the bottom up 1 inch. The top will be open the sides will now be sealed as they have been folded over once and the bottom is folded up 1 inch for strength. Put all of the ingredients in the foil. Fold the top over 1 inch, do this 3 times. Place the pouch on a tray or cutting board to transport to grill. Place packet on grill. Cook for 5 minutes and flip the packet over. The packet will inflate like a balloon while it is cooking. Be careful when you remove from grill as this is when the seems will break if they are going to break. Remove the contents, except the liquids, and put on a plate. I usually serve this on a bed of brown rice. You can garnish with parsely or basil.

Ravioli on a Bed of Spinach

I saw a recipe for Ravioli Florentine somewhere a while back and it has been rattling around in my brain every since. Now my head is pretty empty so when something is rattling around I have have to do something about it. I had my plan all formulated, when my wife decided to make cookies. This kept me out of the kitchen for the next hour. Now I had to come up with some short cuts to get dinner on the table on time, because the person who was hogging the kitchen was now hungry. I won't mention any names though, but my wife knows who she is. I know a lady that makes and sells pastas including raviolis, so usually keep some in the freezer. I used frozen for this, but feel free to use home made.

Ravioli on a Bed of Spinach (Ravioli Florentine)
Sauce
1 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 5 oz can evaporated milk
1/8 tsp grated nutmeg

Spinach
10 oz spinach, I used frozen and let it thaw in the pan
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes
2 oz mushrooms, sliced
2 tsp olive oil

Ravioli
1 package of frozen or your own home made ravioli

Put a pot of water on to boil, for the ravioli.

Combine all of the sauce ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth.

Put the oil in a pan and heat over medium heat. Add the tomato and mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms start getting color, then add the spinach. When the spinach is cooked, keep warm until ready to plate. If you like you can add some of the sauce to the spinach.

While the spinach is cooking add the ravioli and cook until it is done.

Plate the spinach, drizzle with some sauce. Add the ravioli and drizzle a little more sauce over the ravioli.



The reason I made this recipe.

Easy Cassoulet

One of my favorite cookbook authors is Pam Anderson, no not that Pam Anderson, this one is married to a minister. The reason why I like her is that in most of her books she just doesn't give recipes, she gives formulas. So a recipe for a stir fry maybe use 1/2 pound of protein, 1 pound vegetables, etc. Then she will give a list of suggested proteins and vegetables. Then she will give you a list of sauces you can use for stir fries. Finally she will finish with some recipes for her favorite stir fries. I usually recommend her books to people who are just getting into cooking, you will learn how to cook not recipes like you do from Betty Crocker or some of the other beginning cookbooks. Pam just came out with a new book, Perfect One-Dish Dinners, so I had to try a recipe. As usual it was delicious. I am looking forward to trying some more of her recipes from Perfect One-Dish Dinners.

Cassoulet-Style Italian Sausages and White Beans

2 1/2 punds sweet Italian sausage links, I cut mine into 1/4's as they were large
3 pints cherry tomatoes
1 medium onion, cut into 1 1/2" chunks
4 large cloves garlic, sliced
3 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tbs balsamic vinegar
2 tsp dried thyme
3 bay leaves
salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 cans (around 16 oz) white beans, undrained I used Great Northern and Cannellini

Serves 8

Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix sausages, tomatoes, onion, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, thyme, bay leaves and a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper in a large heavy roasting pan. Set pan in oven and roast until sausages are brown and tomatoes have reduced to a thick sauce, about 45 minutes. Remove from oven, stir in beans, and continue to roast until casserole has heated through, about 10 minutes longer. Fish out bay leaves and serve.

If Ronald McDonald was Italian...

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that my brother came to town and I made polenta cakes. Well I had to come up with some ideas for what to do with the leftovers. You have already seen Grilled Polenta Cakes with Bruschetta Topping here is what I did with the last couple of polenta cakes. Egg McMuffins Italian style.

Egg McPolenta
1 fried egg
1 slice fresh mozzarella
1 slice of tomato, 2 if you are using Roma tomatoes
1 slice prosciutto
1 polenta cake, I cut the cake in half so I had a top and bottom "bun" but only ended up eating 1 of the pieces
1 tsp olive oil

This recipe is for one serving just multiply it by the number of people you are serving.

Heat the olive oil in a nonstick frying pan, over medium heat. Add the polenta cake pieces and heat through. Remove and set aside while you fry the egg. To keep the egg the shape of the polenta I cracked it into a round cookie cutter a little smaller than then polenta cake. Spray the cookie cutter with non-stick spray for easy removal. After egg is fried place prosciutto on polenta then mozzarella, tomato and egg.

Grilled Polenta Cakes with Bruschetta Topping

My brother, Bob, came to visit me this past weekend. He wanted me to recreate the dinner that I blogged about when I went to Paula's from Bell' Alimento for a cooking lesson. Now what do you do with leftover polenta cakes? I narrowed my options down to grilling them or putting frosting on them setting them on a paper plate and leaving them in the break room at work. The second would have been funnier but I am glad I went with the first. I think my co-workers are glad I opted for the first option as well.

Grilled Polenta Cakes with Bruschetta Topping

Tomato Topping
2 tomatoes, cut into a small dice
2 tbs Kalamata olives, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
4 basil leaves, cut into fine ribbons
Olive oil to cover the mixture

Polenta Cakes
Preheat the grill to medium high.
Make a batch of Paula's Polenta Cakes right up to the point where you you get the saute pan.
Take the polenta cakes and put them on a well oiled grill, to prevent them from sticking. Cook until polenta has good grill marks and then flip and repeat.
Top each polenta cake with the tomato mixture.

Grilled Chicken Caprese

I have a new food obsession. My brother wanted my old treadmill and wanted to know what I would charge him for it. I think my answer surprised him, dried Michigan cherries. I became addicted to these while in MI in January. I now have 20 pounds of dried cherries, anybody got any good dried cherry recipes?

While my brother was here I took him to an Italian restaurant food supplier that is open to the public. Of course I had to stock up on a few things including fresh mozzarella. Here is one of the recipes I came up with.

Grilled Chicken Caprese
This recipe is per person as it is easy to double, triple, quadruple, etc.
1 chicken breast, cut 3/4 of the way through, so it opens like a book
1 slice fresh mozzarella. you may have to cut in half and place end to end if you have a narrow chicken breast
1 slice of tomato, you may have to cut in half and place end to end if you have a narrow chicken breast
Basil leaves to lay on top of mozzarella
Olive oil to drizzle on breast
Salt and pepper

Preheat grill to medium high.

Drizzle olive oil on the breasts and sprinkle with salt and pepper. On one side of the cut breast put the mozzarella piece(s), tomato piece(s) and basil. Preheat grill to medium high.

Drizzle olive oil on the breasts and sprinkle with salt and pepper. On one side of the cut breast put the mozzarella piece(s), tomato piece(s) and basil. Fold other half of breast over the side with ingredients. Grill until meat is cooked to the desired doneness. Enjoy!

The next post will be the polenta cake in the picture next to the Grilled Caprese Chicken.

Cioppino

This is a recipe I got from my brother-in-law and sister-in-law Steve and Liz. This is so simple but so good I am sure it will become a favorite. Fantastic with a good bootle of wine and some crusty bread. I think I convinced my family this should be our traditional Christmas Eve dinner, easy to make before or after church, fast and delicious. Plus it fits in with the Feast of the Seven Fishes.

Cioppino

1/4 cup green pepper, diced
2 tbs onion, diced
1 clove garlic
1 tbs olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dried basil
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup dry red wine
3 tbs fresh parsley, minced
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1 lb firm white fish, I used Tilappia
1 lb mixed seafood, shrimp, scallops, mussels, clams, etc.

Saute peppers, onion and garlic in olive oil until tender. Add tomatoes, wines and herbs. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add thicker fish and seafood, let simmer for 5 minutes. Add the smaller pieces of seafood and let them simmer for 5 minutes or until all of the seafood is cooked.

Curried Vegetables Over Couscous

Here is a fast and easy weeknight dinner.

Curried Vegetables served over Whole Grain Couscous

1 tbs olive oil
8 oz cauliflower crowns
4 oz button mushrooms, sliced into 2 or 4 pieces depending on size
1/2 red pepper, cut into small dice
1 yellow squash, cut into 1/2 moons
1 zucchini, cut into 1/2 moons
1 can Chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 tbs curry powder, more or less according to your preference
1/2 cup couscous

Heat olive oil in pan. When pan is hot add cauliflower and cook for 2 minutes, then add mushrooms. Cook until they start getting browned. Add the red pepper, squash and zucchini, cook for 2 minutes then add Chickpeas, tomatoes and curry powder. While veggies are cooking make couscous. When Cauliflower is cooked you can server over the couscous.

Salmon with Mixed Pepper and Tomato Salad

Here is a dish that I invented this weekend when I looked in the fridge and saw a couple of peppers, a handful of cherry tomatoes and the salmon my wife said she wanted for dinner. Simple, but very flavorful.

Salmon with Mixed Pepper and Tomato Salad

For the salmon:
1/2 pound of salmon
2 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

For the salad:
10 cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 roasted red pepper, diced
1/4 roasted yellow pepper, diced
1 tbs olive oil

Heat a nonstick pan to medium high heat. Cover Salmon in olive oil and then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat in pan until salmon gets crisp on edges then flip salmon over and heat for another minute or 2 until cooked to your desired doneness. Remove salmon from pan and set aside.

Add olive oil, tomatoes and peppers to pan. Cook until the peppers and tomatoes are heated through.

I made brown rice with this. I put brown rice in 4 oz ramekin and then inverted ramekin onto center of plate. When you lift it you will have a nice hill of rice in center of plate. Cut salmon in 1/2 and put 1 piece on the pile of rice, do this for each plate. Then spoon the tomato pepper mixture over the salmon.

Breakfast in Bread

Every Sunday morning while my wife is getting ready for church I make eggs for breakfast. I try to come up with something besides fried, scrambled and poached. This was my idea for last Sunday, it certainly isn't a new idea, but I haven't tried it in years. If you have ever made eggs in a hole, eggs in a basket or whatever you want to call it you will know that the toast and the eggs don't always cook at the same rate., so you end up with burnt toast and raw eggs. So I cheated.

Breakfast on Bread or the Toastest with the Mostest


1 egg, fried or poached
1 tsp olive oil
1 stalk of asparagus
1 piece Canadian Bacon or about 1 oz of ham chopped
3 cherry tomatoes, 1/2 or 1 tbs of diced tomato
2 tsp parmesan cheese, finely grated
1 slice of toast
Non-stick spray

This recipe is for 1 egg, you can multiple by however many eggs you are making. You will need a biscuit cutter (or cookie cutter, I used round but any shape will do) a little less than the width of a piece of toast. If you have 2 biscuit cutters the same size and shape it will be even easier.

In a pan put 1 tsp of olive oil and heat to a shimmer add the asparagus and ham. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes. cook for another 2 minutes, until ham starts to brown. Set aside.

Start making your egg, if you are frying spray the cutter with the non-stick spray and place with the non-cutting side down in the pan. Crack the egg into the cutter. This will keep the egg shape the same size as the hole in the toast. Start the toast. Cook egg to desired doneness. When egg is done carefully remove egg from cutter. Then use cutter to cut a whole in the toast. Remove the piece of toast that you cut out and put toast on plate. Put egg in the hole in the toast. Now top with ham, asparagus, tomato mixture. Sprinkle the parmesan over the whole toast.

Grilled Chicken Cacciatore

A nice cool fall day, so I decide to make Chicken Cacciatore while watching football. What do you mean it hit 80 degrees and now my wife wants to grill out. Now what? You improvise and make grilled Chicken Cacciatore, turned out to be very good.

Grilled Chicken Caccitaore

2 chicken breasts
1 red pepper, cut into 1 inch chunks
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, cut in half
4 oz mushrooms, cut in 1/2 or 1/4 depending on size
1 Small Onion, cut into chunks
1 tbs plus 1 tsp Olive Oil
1 tbs Italian Seasoning, I used marjoram, oregano, and thyme plus a pinch of red pepper flakes
Rice or pasta to put the chicken on.

Preheat the grill.

Place all of the cut up vegetables in a bowl then add the tbs of olive oil and Italian Seasoning. Toss the vegetables to coat with oil and herbs. Set them aside.

Sprinkle the tsp of oil over the chicken breasts and salt and pepper them.

Now put everything on the grill, I kept the chicken separate from the veggies. Grill until they reach the desired tenderness.

To serve put the rice or pasta on the plate, then the chicken and vegetables.

Spicy Shrimp and Rice

Ever have one of those Saturdays when you look up and see it is time for dinner and you haven't even thought about it yet? I just started grabbing left over ingredients until I was happy with the combination.

Spicy Shrimp and Rice

2 tbs olive oil

2 tbs onions, diced

1/4 cup yellow peppers, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

16 shrimp, I used 21-30

1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp marjoram

1 cup rice, cooked

Heat a saute pan over medium heat. Add the olive oil, then add the onions and peppers. Heat until the onions and peppers are soft. Add the garlic and cook until it gets fragrant. Then add the shrimp. Cook for a minute or 2 then add the tomatoes and spices. While the tomatoes are heating up put the rice in a serving dish. When the shrimp and tomatoes are done remove from heat and pour them on the rice.

Grilled Vegetable Pasta

This dish is a good way to use up leftover vegetables. The ingredients I list below can be changed for just about any vegetables you have in your house. Try for about 4 cups of veggies for 8 ounces of pasta. The recipe below is for 8 ounces of pasta and feed 2 with enough left over for a lunch.

Grilled Vegetable Pasta

1 zucchini, cut in half lengthwise and then cut into 1/4" pieces so you have 1/2 moons

1 yellow squash, cut just like zucchini

1/2 small red onion cut into slices and the rings separated

cherry tomatoes

Mushrooms, cut the hard end off from the stem and then slice mushrooms

1 red pepper, cut into 1" pieces

1 yellow pepper, cut into 1" pieces

olive oil, enough to lightly coat the vegetables

1 tbs mixed dried herbs (basil, oregano, marjoram, thyme, etc) I use dried here because they will be cooked on the grill. If you want to use fresh herbs add them after the veggies are grilled or as you are removing the veggies from the grill.

Parmesan curls for garnish.

Put a pot of water on to boil.

Start your grill.

Chop the veggies. Put veggies in a bowl and sprinkle with enough olive oil on them to coat the veggies. Add the herbs to the vegetables.

When the water boils add salt to the water, it should taste like the sea, I use about a table spoon. Add the pasta to the water. Put the veggies on the grill.

When the pasta is al dente remove it from the water and drain. Toss the veggies with the pasta when they are done. Put in the serving dish and drizzle with olive oil. Then with a potato peeler shave some parmesan cheese curls over the pasta.