Valerie's Roasted Tomato Arugula Salad

My boss gave me 10 clamshells of baby arugula to demo/sell the other day. I was like, "Nobody likes arugula, what the hell am I gonna do with this stuff?" Then, my brilliant coworker Valerie suggested a roasted tomato-feta salad she made for company a while back. So I went over to the cheese department and they gave me Noah's Valley Israeli Feta cheese. It's a very fresh feta that's very creamy, and unfortunately we are discontinuing it. :( So, any fresh, high quality feta will do. This recipe has no dressing, which shocked my customers. Instead, the herbed oil that the tomatoes are packed in mixes with the creamy feta to create a faux dressing that my customers drooled over, and for good reason too. So this 3 ingredient salad sold all of our organic arugula, TWO kinds of feta (the one I mentioned and a French feta), and I sold so many roasted tomatoes they had to pull out the frozen stuff in the back! So, hit recipe, EVEN IF YOU HATE ARUGULA, which many of my customers do.

~5 oz. clamshell/bag of baby arugula
4-6 oz. French Sheep's Milk Feta or the Noah's Valley (or any other good quality feta you can find)
3.5 oz. Wegmans Italian Classics Roasted Tomatoes (packed in olive oil, garlic, and herbs), chopped up

Combine all ingredients in a bowl just before serving. Make sure to use that yummy oil from the tomatoes,  it's basically the dressing. Garnish with a bit of freshly ground black pepper. If you need to transport this, put the tomatoes on the bottom, then the cheese, then the arugula on top so it doesn't get soggy.

If you don't have a Wegmans near you, one: I'm very sorry, two: you can use some canned tomatoes. Try to get the fire-roasted ones that have some sort of basil, garlic, or other italian spices in them. You'll want to add your own extra virgin olive oil to the salad.

Tuscan Pork Roast with Port Glaze

Pork Roast

• 1 to 1.5 lb. pork roast
• Tuscan spice mix/seasoning/rub (if you can't find this, it's basically garlic and onion powder, lots of parsley, salt, sage, and black pepper)
• Herbs de Province
• poultry seasoning
• salt to taste

Place the roast in a cast iron pan, and sprinkle on some poultry seasoning. Rub so that it covers the top and sides. Sprinkle over the herbs de province and the Tuscan spice mix. Pour some non EV olive oil into the pan around the roast. Using tongs, sear the meat on medium high on the bottom, sides, and then top (yes some spices will fall off, that's fine). Turn back onto the bottom again to coat that side with the spices that fell off of the top. Finish in the oven at 350 F for about 30 minutes or until pork is cooked in the middle.

Port Wine Glaze

• 1/2 stick butter
• 1 c. sweet port
• dash of salt
• 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 2 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 squirt orange mio (optional)
• 2 packets Splenda

Combine all ingredients in a nonstick pan and simmer until combined and reduced by 2/3 or more, stirring occasionally with a silicone spatula.  Allow to cool slightly. If it's thickened up, it's ready. It should be shiny and deep in color. 

UPDATED! Crab Bisque

1 can Wegmans Italian Classics Diced Tomatoes, undrained
2 red bell peppers (or red and orange)
1 Tbsp. Old Bay
1 32 oz. container Kitchen Essentials Fish/Seafood Stock
1.5 c. heavy cream
2 6 oz. cans crabmeat (I used Trader Joe's)
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. onion powder

Preheat the oven to 450 F. Line a pan with foil. Wash the peppers and cut out the stems and seeds. Slice them from top to bottom, like this:

and lay them flat as possible on the foil. Roast until skins crack and start to peel. Blackened spots are fine. Remove from oven, turn the oven off, and use a butter/dinner knife to scrape off the skins when the peppers are cool enough to handle. Discard skins. Rough chop the peppers until they fit into your Ninja or food processor. To the Ninja/processor, add the tomatoes (undrained), Old Bay, crabmeat (be careful of potential paper), minced garlic, and onion powder. Process until smooth. Pour contents into a soup pot. Add fish/seafood stock and bring to a simmer. Cover and let simmer for about 15 to 30 minutes, depending on how much time you have. When time's up, add in the cream and stir well. Add salt and pepper to taste.