Roasted Vegetable Pasta Salad for the EMU Game

Last week's game against Notre Dame was AMAZING!!! A come-from-behind touchdown with 2 seconds left gave Michigan a 35-31 lead, and Notre Dame had no time or opportunity left. This was a game so big that ESPN's "College Game Day" show was based here in Ann Arbor, the Goodyear blimp was hovering over the stadium, and scalpers were seeking as much as $4000 for some tickets! And we won!

Now, this week, next door neighbor Eastern Michigan University - from just 5 miles down the road - is coming to The Big House on Saturday.

Sadly, this isn't particularly a fair play date: Eastern is a small school from the MAC conference rather than Michigan's Big 10. Eastern also doesn't have a particularly stellar football history, though they did beat Howard University in style in their season opener, 41-9. They're also 2-0 for the first time since 1998 after beating Alabama State last weekend. I'll spare you my rant about these uneven match-ups; I'm just here for the food, after all!

So, what food to offer for a game between Eastern and U of M? And what to serve when the weather 'round here can go from morning temperatures in the 90s to thunderstorms in the afternoon, followed immediately by days of highs in the 60s?

Pasta. Everyone loves it, it's easy to make, it goes with almost everything and is appropriate no matter what the weather is. I even made it green and white to honor Eastern's team colors. A girl's gotta have some fun with feeding the masses for the football games, after all!

Eastern Michigan University at University of Michigan
Saturday, September 17 at 12 p.m. EDT
GO BLUE!!!

Roasted Vegetable Pasta Salad

6 asparagus spears, cut into 1" pieces
1 cup green beans, cut into 1" pieces
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
12 ounces green and white rotini
2 ounces crumbled feta cheese
1/3 cup jarred pepperoncini, drained, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup pesto
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 400F. Place the asparagus and beans into a pie pan; toss with 2 tablespoons of the oil and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt. Roast for 20-25 minutes until tender and slightly caramelized.

Prepare rotini according to package directions; drain and rinse under cold water, then place into a large mixing bowl.

Add the roasted vegetables to the mixing bowl, along with the feta, pepperoncini, oregano, pepper and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Combine the pesto, lemon juice and remaining tablespoon of oil; pour over the salad and toss to coat.

Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Makes 8-10 servings.

Two for Tea ... Two Kinds of Sandwiches, That Is

Well, after obsessing about it for several days, on Thursday I finally enjoyed my lunchtime tea presentation ... whew! You know how you get a little bug up your bum about an idea, and you just fixate until it's realized??? That's how I was about the cucumber sandwiches. I heard them calling, and I heard the entire "finger sandwich and cookie" assortment begging for my attention.

So, when you have a craving you have to give in! Otherwise you're tormented. You'll devour all sorts of substitutes -- tossing aside regard for calories and budgets -- hoping to find a passable alternative ... and then you'll ultimately give in and indulge. You might as well have what you want from the beginning.

On Thursdays, my friends/co-workers Beth and Michele are usually the only other ones in the office besides me. Since most of the other folks work weekends, Thursday is a popular day off; Friday is necessary for Saturday and Sunday preparations, after all. We figure that if we're there manning (woman-ing???) the proverbial fort, we might as well enjoy ourselves. So we usually order lunch to be delivered.

But I'd been hearing the Siren song of afternoon tea; and I had cucumbers and egg salad and several varieties of breads ... as well as some fruit ... not to mention an assortment of leftover cookies that were waiting for me in the conference room when I got to work. I decided to bring my lunch on Thursday.

So I took some oat bread and spread it with a bit of butter; this would keep the bit of Ranch dressing I used for flavoring from seeping into the bread.

I spread the dressing over the bread, then lay very thin cucumber slices over the bread. I used a kitchen knife for the cutting rather than a mandoline, because I'm noted for my klutziness and I am convinced -- as is Jeremy -- that I would slice my fingertip off if I ever dared to use a mandoline. The knife worked just fine ... no need for fancy or expensive kitchen toys!

Then I closed up my sandwich, cut off the crusts, and cut it into cute little squares ('cause those New York City deli sandwiches -- despite being foot-high works of art! -- aren't what you want for an afternoon tea.).

Next on the menu -- since a proper afternoon tea offers trays with variety, not just a plain ol' (but beloved!) pb&j -- was an egg salad sandwich.

My egg salad is very simple: eggs, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, and some finely diced red onion. I got the idea for the recipe from the movie "Harvey," starring Jimmy Stewart. The scene is a bit difficult to explain, as it comes in one of the screwiest parts of the screwball comedy; but suffice it to say that Jimmy Stewart's niece in the movie, Myrtle Mae, offers to make an egg 'n' onion sandwich for the sanitarium worker she's flirting with despite his having come to the house to retrieve her mother who was wrongly committed and managed to escape. (Go watch the movie -- it's cute, it's sweet, it's fun!)

Anyway .... I like to use an egg slicer on the eggs, slicing them first horizontally and then turning the egg and slicing it cross-wise; this makes lovely little shreds of egg, rather than chopped and mashed egg. I then spread this onto pumpernickel bread, but you could use a caraway rye as well. (And while it may contain rye flour and thus technically be "rye" bread, a proper rye must have caraway seeds!!! I have spoken.)

Close the sandwiches, cut them into quarters, and you have more pretty little finger sandwiches waiting for you. Truly, it doesn't get much easier than this ....

So, I packed up my sandwiches, placed some strawberries and blueberries into a container, and meandered off to work. Beth ordered a rich macaroni and cheese for lunch, Michele ordered mozzarella sticks and a slice of carrot cake, and I joined in by ordering some raspberry iced tea to complete my array. Finger sandwiches? Yup. Fruit? Yup. Cookie ... oh, alright, since I already admitted it in Thursday's post, cookieS? Yup. And then finally, iced tea? Yay!!!

And it was an absolutely lovely lunch, if I may say so myself! Simple, easy, cool, light ... it was everything I needed and had been craving, even if we ate at 1 p.m. rather than the standard tea time of 4 ....