Pasta potluck

As several of the ETAs are running in the marathon on Sunday, we joined together for a pasta potluck tonight to carb them up.  I’ve not been in the mood for cooking lately, so I was just planning to throw together penne tossed with olive oil, spinach, and sun-dried tomatoes.  Unfortunately, I had a brain fart at the supermarket and got a jar of roasted bell peppers instead of the tomatoes. 

Poonchoi Potluck

In celebration of Lunar New Year, I attended a poon choi extravaganza.   It was also partially a potluck, so I decided to try making something I’d been eyeing for awhile: David Lebovitz’s pajun.  The recipe seemed like a promising, time-saving alternative to making them with dough.

 

They turned out floppy (instead of crusty) but rather tasty, and I whipped up a simple sweet and sour chili dipping sauce.  Next time I’ll be sure to hit the pan with more oil before cooking these in hopes that they develop a crispified exterior.

Other potluck contributions: a trio pepper platter with a kick-ass spicy hummus, nachos with melted cheese, spaghetti, and an assortment of veggie dumplings and buns.

The main event, of course, was the poon (I know what some of you are thinking, but try and control your immature selves ):

Getting heated up:

Digging in:

I tried some octopus, tofu skin, pork, taro, white turnip, mushrooms, and chicken. Though taste-wise, everything was kind of monotonous, I was pleasantly surprised by the chicken; the white meat looked like dark because it presumably had been soaking in all that meat juice for some time, and came out flavorful and moist. It doesn’t look pretty, but it left me satiated and satisfied. Xi nian kuai le!