Ashley's Festive Bowtie Pasta

It's that time of year again - the post-thanksgiving-pre-winter-break slump. It is the time of year when snow really should stop procrastinating its act, when CVS starts thinking it's okay to play only Christmas songs, when people start hoping for donuts at the sci li, and when most of our stomachs are still recovering from pounds of roast poultry, potatoes, pie, and more pie.

Fortunately, the Ratty has just the antidote. A hearty thanks to Ashley So for sharing her elegant pasta recipe - delicately balanced with the tartness of tomatoes and feta against savory morsels of hot dog a la refectorie de sharpe, and drizzled in heart healthy basil infused extra virgin olive oil, this dish is light, fresh, and sure to delight.

Ashley's Festive Bowtie Pasta
bowtie pasta
parmesan cheese
feta cheese
cherry tomatoes
sliced hotdog
lots of basil infused extra virgin olive oil
dash of salt and pepper

Mix cheese, tomatoes, and hotdog with pasta. Drizzle generously with olive oil; add salt and pepper to taste.

Paul's Buffalo Chicken Salad

Friday lunch isn't Friday lunch if it's not at the V-dub. We're pretty sure by now that the location of the V-dub is no longer a secret and neither are its gorgeous deep fried strips of tender poultry goodness. What might not be so obvious, however, are the creative applications in which one can enjoy this beloved Friday lunchtime staple.

Voila, Paul's Buffalo Chicken Salad! Special thanks to Paul Martino for sharing his go-to recipe for jazzing up what might be Brown Dining's most heavily sought after menu item. It is an exquisite interplay of tangy/creamy crunchy/savory goodness, all on a top of a leafy bed of romaine and veggies for added vitamins; a meal that will surely satisfy your taste buds, your muscles, your brain, and your soul.

Paul's Buffalo Chicken Salad
romaine lettuce
3 chicken fingers (sliced, diced, or whole, I usually just chop them up as I eat the salad)
shredded carrots
chopped egg (from the salad bar)
2 ladles of buffalo sauce
2 tablespoons of bleu cheese cressing
cucumber slices

Place the chicken fingers, egg, and carrots over a bed of the romaine lettuce. Add the cucumber slices, pour on the dressing and drizzle with buffalo sauce. Try it, it's great! 

Vishesh's Berry Tostadas

Tostada means "toasted" in Spanish. Usually, the "toasted" is referring to the golden fried tortilla upon which toppings, usually of the savory variety, are piled. Owing to the delightful cornucopia of seasonal ingredients at the Ratty and the boundless creativity of Brown students, tostadas at the Ratty need not be restricted by their usual meat and salt-laden accompaniments.

Special thanks to Vishesh Jain for emailing us with this elegant recipe for berry tostadas! According to Vishesh, these crunchy chips can be topped with "all kinds of yogurts and berries" - truly a recipe that is only limited by one's imagination (and the whims of the Ratty).

Vishesh's Berry Tostadas
strawberries, sliced
raspberries
blueberries
tostada chips
whipped cream
honey
mint leaves, shredded

Spread tostada chips in a circular monolayer on plate. Put dollops of whipped cream on top, then top with berries. Garnish with mint and a drizzle of honey.

Jonathan's Chicago Dog

To put it in the wise words of Wikipedia itself: "A Chicago-style hot dog, Chicago Dog, or Chicago Red Hot is an all-beef frankfurter on a poppy seed bun, originating from the city of Chicago, Illinois. The hot dog is topped with yellow mustard; chopped white onions; bright green sweet pickle relish; a dill pickle spear; tomato slices or wedges; pickled sport peppers; and a dash of celery salt. The complete assembly of a Chicago hot dog is said to be 'dragged through the garden' due to the many toppings."

Jonathan Sit emailed us with a fantastic recipe for a unique version of Chicago Dog "dragged through the Ratty Grill Line." Feel free to get creative with your toppings - but whatever you do, don't make the preposterous error of squirting ketchup on your Chicago Dog.

Jonathan's Chicago Dog

hotdog and bun

tomato slice

pickle spear (end of sandwich line)

onions

relish

banana peppers

yellow mustard

celery salt

Put the hotdog in the bun. Add relish, onions, banana peppers, and mustard. Cut tomato slice in half, add halves to bun. Add pickle spear. Add dash of celery salt. Done! 

Jonathan's Deviled Eggs

Hard boiled eggs. Boring, right? Wrong! As a matter of fact, the Ratty comes fully armed with an arsenal of ingredients to transform these humble protein morsels into decadent deviled eggs. We want to thank Jonathan Sit for his ingenious recipe and gorgeous photos. Enjoy!

Jonathan's Deviled Eggs

12 hard boiled eggs (served only at breakfast and lunch)

mayo

relish

yellow mustard
bacon (for the adventurous) 

Get a dozen hard boiled eggs. Peel and cut in half with a knife. They are easier to peel when warm so do it quickly! Put all the yolks in a cup. Now, using a soup spoon (the larger one not the dinky tea spoon), mix in 4 parts mayo, 1 part relish, and 1 part mustard. Mix! Season with a dash of salt and pepper. Carefully spoon back the mixture into the now empty egg-white halves. Now you can garnish it with more pepper or paprika (if they have it) or if you're feeling adventurous, bacon bits from the salad line! (I made this as a dish for a potluck so it makes a lot of servings!)

Cajun Chicken Broccoli Pasta

Mmmm the creamy goodness of Cajun Chicken Pasta. We love how the fusilli catches all the luscious spicy sauce in its gorgeous corkscrew curls. We thought, what else has little nooks and crannies for sopping up sauce? It's green and starts with a b and ends with a roccoli. To extend the sauce a little further, you can spice up your pasta with  fresh chopped tomatoes from the salad bar and a dash of black pepper. 

Cajun Chicken Broccoli Pasta

1 dish of Cajun Chicken Pasta

fresh chopped tomatoes

broccoli

basil infused olive oil

paprika

garlic powder

salt

pepper

Steam the broccoli by placing them in a single layer on a dish and drizzling on some basil infused olive oil, paprika, garlic powder, and a sprinkling of salt. Cover with an inverted plate and microwave 100-120 seconds, until broccoli is just cooked through. Top the pasta with tomatoes and microwave 30 seconds to warm everything through. Toss the broccoli over the pasta and sprinkle everything with salt and pepper to taste. 

Spinach Artichoke Grilled Cheese

Spinach artichoke dip is delicious. It's probably not the spinach and artichoke's responsibility. That's right ooey gooey melty Cheese, we're looking at you. But we have to admit that Cheese's intrinsic deliciousness is buoyed by the humble presence of Spinach and Artichoke. Bet you didn't know that spinach artichoke grilled cheese could reveal such deep insights into life, did you?

Spinach Artichoke Grilled Cheese
2 slices rustic bread
artichoke hearts
baby spinach
1 slice swiss cheese
1 slice mozzarella cheese
nonstick vegetable oil spray

Sandwich the artichoke hearts, baby spinach, and two cheeses between the bread. Spray the panini press with nonstick vegetable oil spray. Place the sandwich on the grill and grill for 2-5 minutes, until golden brown and crispy and the cheese is just melted.

Sunday Morning Crepes

Are crepes for breakfast or dessert? Why can't breakfast be dessert, you ask? Ah my friend, that's the spirit. Of course, if you load on the berries and some freshly sliced bananas, you can justify any dessert/breakfast. Get your calcium and protein fix from some vanilla soft serve (of course that's why we put it on everything...), and you'll be primed to seize the day. 

Sunday Morning Crepes

3 crepes

crepe fillings of choice: chocolate sauce, whipped cream, cream cheese and jam

strawberry compote

pineapple compote

2 bananas, sliced

vanilla soft serve

Spread a different filling on each crepe. We used chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and cream cheese/jam. Fold each crepe in half twice and plate them slightly overlapping. Garnish the crepes with strawberry and pineapple compote, vanilla soft serve, and banana medallions. Savor with a cup of tea and the Sunday morning paper. 

Michelle's Thai Iced Tea

You can't get Thai iced tea from the soda dispenser at the Ratty. But you can come pretty close. This ingenious recipe, created by Michelle Zheng, is a refreshing stand in for a classic bubble tea shop staple!

Michelle's (Sort of) Thai Iced Tea
Take a classic plastic Ratty cup, and fill it in this order with:
1/5 glass ice
3/5 unsweetened iced tea
1/5 raspberry iced tea
2 pumps vanilla coffee creamer

Mix well and enjoy!

Local Food Forum 2013

Mark your calendars for Wednesday 2/6, the yearly networking event for Rhode Island food producers, buyers, students, community members, and local food enthusiasts in between! More info about the event here.

In the spirit of this year's theme - Center of the Plate: What Makes Meat and Seafood Sustainable? - we would like to highlight some of the ongoing efforts in sustainability happening inside the Ratty.

Seafood - sourced from Clipper Seafood, a locally based company committed to sustainable fishing and conservation of local fish species

Chicken - supplied by Warwick Poultry, a local distributor in RI

The best part about cooking with fresh, local ingredients means you usually don't need to do a whole lot to make it taste good. Simply dress up a Rhode Island Chicken Salad with some fresh lettuce and tomato, or garnish a filet of local tilapia or sustainable salmon with seasonal veggies, and you'll have yourself a healthy, hearty, and delicious local meal in no time.