Cucumber Salad

This simple side salad makes a fast, delicious addition to any asian style meal.  We love it with Korean beef bowls, Shoyu chicken, chicken lettuce wraps or fried rice.

Cucumber Salad
6-8 servings

2 cucumbers, peeled and sliced
1/4 c. thinly sliced red onion
Marinade:
1/2 c. rice vinegar
1/4 c. canola oil
1/2 t. salt
2 T. sugar
1/2 t. ginger powder

Whisk together all the marinade ingredients.  Add the cucumbers and red onion and allow to marinate for at least an hour before serving.  Keeps well in the refrigerator for a couple of days.

Classic Pasta al Pomodoro

Classic Pasta al Pomodoro
from Female Foodie
Serves 8

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion (or 1/2 large onion), chopped white, yellow, or sweet onion (do not use red)
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 28 ounce can san marzano tomatoes (whole, peeled)
• sea salt or kosher salt to taste
• 1 pound pasta**
• 1/2-1 cup heavy cream (optional)*

INSTRUCTIONS

• In a large dutch oven or skillet, heat the extra virgin olive oil over medium heat. Add chopped onions and cook for 10 minutes, until soft and translucent, stirring occasionally to avoid browned onions. Add garlic and cook for one minute. Do not let garlic burn. Open canned tomatoes, and as you pour tomatoes into the dutch oven, crush each one with your hand, releasing juices and breaking up the flesh of tomatoes one by one. Add several cranks of salt to tomatoes. Simmer for 30-40 minutes, stirring every few minutes to avoid burning of tomatoes.
• About 20 minutes before pomodoro sauce is done cooking, bring a large pot of water to boil. Just before it begins to boil, generously salt the water. If using spaghetti or other classic dried pasta, cook 1 minute less than package directions or until just barely "al dente". Remove 1 cup of starchy pasta water from pot just before pasta is finished cooking. If cooking gnocchi, pasta is cooked when the gnocchi float to the top of the boiling water. Strain from pasta water immediately as to not overcook.
• Using an immersion blender, blend the contents of the pomodoro sauce in dutch oven together until smooth. Taste sauce and add additional salt if needed. Add the reserved cup of pasta water to pomodoro sauce, and bring to a soft boil over medium-high heat. Add pasta and stir constantly for about 1 minute. Remove from heat and serve immediately. Top with fresh basil and parm as desired.

NOTES

*You may add 1/2 to 1 cup of heavy cream to the pasta just before serving if you'd like a creamier, richer sauce instead of the pasta water. Just make sure to taste the sauce after you've added the cream to ensure it has enough salt.

*This pasta al pomodoro recipe can be made with any pasta, but we prefer to enjoy it with gnocchi or spaghetti. If you prepare gnocchi with this dish, you may need double the amount of gnocchi (2 lbs. or 2 packages) to get the correct pasta to sauce ratio. If using spaghetti, 1 lb of pasta is perfect.