Meat Add-Ins for Pasta

I had seen people doing this on occasion, but it was only yesterday that I truly realized the value of this delicious combination. I love pasta, but I am continually bored by the limited options for special sauces and dishes that Leo's offers. One of my favorites is the occasional "Penne with Italian Sausage," but even this sometimes tastes slightly unsatisfactory. However, I now know you can truly "Make your own" (which we're clearly a fan of) Pasta, using whatever meats are available on a given day. Bear in mind 2 things: 1) This is extremely dependent on what is available. I can't quite imagine pasta mixed with turkey pot pie. 2) The Pasta Palate is vegan: do not attempt to have them cook meat into your pasta, as they will not let you.

Ingredients:
Pasta with sauce (either from veggie station or the Pasta Palate)
Vegetables (optional)
Sausage/steak/chicken

Assembly is relatively simple. Top your pasta with your desired vegetables and meat, and that's it. However, many diners may choose to challenge the stir-fry chefs to toss up their pasta with some meat. The stir-fry station is known to be lenient in allowing other add-ins, and we encourage you to try some out. You can of course ask to have the stir-fry meats added, but I'd be willing to bet that they could also just cook up a pre-assembled mixture for you if you asked nicely. Keep in mind that you should cut up your sausage, steak, or chicken into smaller pieces to allow for even mixing and cooking.

My personal favorite for this is quite simple. Get pasta from the veggie station, top with marinara sauce and some cheese, and add an Italian sausage, peppers, and onions from the Flavors of Home, if you're blessed to be at Leo's on one of those days. Credit to Matt Kerrigan on this one.

An additional option that I developed after a home-cooked meal is as follows. Start by going to the Pasta Palate, and in your bowl put spinach, mushrooms, onions, and anything else you might want. Cook that up with some pasta and a little bit of pesto sauce. I would suggest asking them to use less sauce than normal, I tend to find that it's too much. Afterwards, you can add some cheese, then bring it over to the stir-fry station, have them add in chicken, and maybe some peppers. Enjoy.

Thai Noodles

Due to the fact that approximately half our blog is devoted to MYOP recipes, we're hoping to branch out a little more in the future. The following is a variant on Scott's Thai Chicken Pizza: a noodle dish that incorporates the same peanut sauce. The sauce when made right is a perfect compliment to stir fry, and is a great alternative to those pre-made sauces that contain twice your daily value of sodium per teaspoon. This simply prepared dish leaves much up to the preferences of the chef, however I suggest my favorite combination of items:

Ingredients:
Chicken from stir fry station
Noodles from stir fry station
Bell peppers from stir fry station
Water chestnuts from stir fry station
Ginger from stir fry station
Peanut Butter from Deli
Water

Directions:
If you haven't guessed already, order a dish at the stir fry station with chicken, noodles, bell peppers, water chestnuts, and ginger (add or subtract items as desired). After the dish is finished, go downstairs and put a scoop or two of peanut butter in a bowl. Add a small amount of water to the bowl (Scott prefers milk; either works, but don't do both) and mix at least a little bit. Place the bowl in the microwave for 15-20 seconds--not longer or things will go wrong--and continue mixing/adding water until you get a nice syrupy consistency. Mix the peanut sauce in with the stir fry until evenly coated, and enjoy.