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Rainbow Seafood Pasta Salad

Before posting the photos I shot in Penang, I would like to begin my 2009 posting with a food recipe.

Do you like salad? I never have a chance to made one so far as my Emperor is not supportive enough for this idea. But after all the Christmas and New Year festive celebrations, I desperately need one now. Remember what I mentioned in my last post? It is my 2009 New Year resolution! As we know, another festive celebration is approaching - Chinese New Year. During this period, we will have to attend family reunion dinner and friend and relatives' open house. All the yummilicious stuff are awaiting for us!! If I don’t seriously watch my diet now, then I have to prepare to upgrade my clothing size after CNY. Oh, no! please don't let this happen to me!!!!

Today I would like to share with you a light, simple and healthy recipe I found from my favourite cookbook - “Children’s healthy & fun cookbook”. Although this was my 1st attempt in making salad, to my surprise, my son could accept raw vegetables such as baby butterhead. He loved eating it so much. I guess it was because most of the ingredients used in this salad were his favourite (ie tomato, corns, raisin and prawns) and the thousand island dressing provides extra flavour to the salad.

This salad is very versatile. You can mix and match any ingredients using your own creativity. Below is my own modified version that is enough to serve both my son and me for today’s lunch.

Ingredients:
60g pasta shells – cooked and drained well
4 large prawns – cooked and peeled, cut each prawn into 4 portions
1 medium size tomatoes - removed seeds and chopped into cubes
½ ear of large sweet corn – steamed or boiled, kernel removed from cob
1 small Japanese cucumber – removed seeds and chopped into cubes
Handful of black raisins and sunflower seeds
A few leaves of baby butterhead (cut into strips)

Other ingredients you may consider:
- small tomatoes (ie cherry or roma tomatoes), carrot, avocado, lettuce leaves, cooked egg, pine nuts, chicken (instead of prawn), tofu (instead of prawn for vegetarian)

Dressing (thousand islands sauce):
4 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 tsp lemon juice (start with 1 tsp)
2 drops of Tabasco sauce (optional)
Dash of pepper
Sugar or salt (if necessary)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (for mixing later)

Methods:
1) Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add the pasta and follow the cooking instructions on the packet. Drain well and leave to cool.
2) Prepare the dressing, cover with cling wrap and keep in the fridge.
3) Prepare all the ingredients.
4) Put all the ingredients into a salad bowl and mix well with the dressing. Alternatively, you can divide the ingredients between the serving bowls and then drizzle over the dressing. Serve and enjoy!

I am submitting this pasta salad to Presto Pasta Night, founded by Ruth of Once Upon A Feast, and hosted by Ivy of Kopiaste this week.

Other recommended colourful dishes:
- special egg rolls with rice, salmon and spinach
- millet porridge
- stir-fried capsicums & cucumber with stewed vegetarian mutton

Why We Love Food Network

Whenever I hear someone say they hate television it amazes me. My next question is always “what do you watch?” I never seem to get a straight answer. With the advent of cable television and satellite tv, there is always something on.

For food lovers, food network has to be the best thing on television since Julia Child was on the air. Between the celebrities that do the cooking, and the topics and recipes that they pick, what else could you ask for. It really was an ingenious concept, a food channel that is on 24 hour a day all about food. It is even a better fit than the golf channel, or the history channel or any other channel because everyone eats.

Once you add the personalities of the ”Celebrity Chefs” to the shows, you can only have a winning formula. Rachael Ray is definitely my favorite, it seems as if, just like all of the chefs that she is always in a great mood, which is always refreshing. Then there's Emeril, who must be the most popular, has combined an open forum with music and celebrity guests. For Emeril to be the standout for food network makes perfect sense, his knowledge of food is unbelievable, he is very easy to like for men and women, and he likes to have fun. It's almost as if you're in his house while he's cooking

I don't think that I have ever watched Alton Brown's Good Eats, and not learned something. His information is a lot of did you know, that you probably did not know. Paula Dean's southern style is always warm and friendly. There is a show everyone, which should be the goal of all television networks

Food network was a very welcome addition to cable tv land, with the technology of digital cable and tivo, you can have all your favorite shows ready to watch whenever you want. Can you imagine back in the day being able to watch Julia Child whenever you want?

Another reason we love food network is their website. It is very informative and anything you see on television you can get from their website. Everything from the recipes that you see, to the actual video. It is pretty easy to navigate and find what you are looking for. Their online store has everything from cookbooks to cooking utensils. With food network becoming more and more popular, we can only hope that it grows and expands to cover more topics and foods.

Todd C. Robinson is Blogger for http://foodnetworkonline.blogspot.com/