Picnic Food

My friends, Rob and Karen are having a big cookout this weekend. In the spirit of the event, I made some gluten-free pasta salad. It's my first attempt at the recipe, but I think it turned out well:

24 oz. gluten free pasta (I used two 12 oz bags of my favorite brand. You do the same)
4 oz. canned mushrooms

1/2 onion chopped

1 qt. frozen broccoli

1 1/2 cups orange juice

3 tsp Dijon mustard

3 tsp cornstarch

3 tsp dried sage

3 tsp dried thyme

salt and pepper to taste

extra virgin olive oil

Cook pasta according to package directions or until al dente, drain and set aside, covered to keep warm. In a medium bowl, whisk together the orange juice, cornstarch, sage, thyme, mustard, and salt and pepper . Heat a medium saute pan and add enough oil to coat the bottom thoroughly. Saute the onions until soft and translucent. Add the broccoli and mushrooms and heat through. Salt and pepper the vegetables to taste. Add the orange juice mixture and allow to simmer for 2-4 minutes. Mix together with the pasta and refrigerate. Serve cold.

MAGIC!

So this is pretty amazing. Made-in-Transit + Gro Pak have a packaging prototype designed by Agata Jaworska to deliver super fresh mushrooms to grocery stores. The idea is to package mushroom sprouts that mature to oyster mushrooms en route to the consumer. It's a brilliant idea and one which, I at least, could totally get behind. Most produce is harvested at peak ripeness, or readiness, and is packaged up and shipped out to stores, where it begins its decay cycle. By delivering produce that is, technically, still growing, the consumer gains a little time, and a lot of fresh flavor. Check out Agata's cartoon explaining the concept at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aVSMA1rylY

I tried to embed it here, but either I'm inept (very likely) or something is glitchy (slightly probable), so you'll just have to follow the link.

You can also head over to www.food2.com and check out their blog post on the subject. It's basically the same info, but you know, they're not technilogically disabled like I am, so their video works.