EYE-Tallian Pasta Salad
This is a fun one, you really cannot go wrong if you practice balance between, crisp (celery, raw broccoli, green pepper) and soft (avocado, mozzarella, ripe olives, etc), sweet (tomatoes, sweetener,) tart (green olives, capers, red onions, lemon juice),bland (oils, cucumber, pasta) etc,, A great summer side dish or picnic menu item.
Ingredients:
Dressing:
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus more to taste
1 tablespoon balsamic or red wine vinegar
⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
~ ¼ cup mayo for a creamier dressing
1 tsp of minced garlic
Salad:
1 pound short pasta, such as campanelle, fusilli or farfalle
1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted and diced
1 celery stalk sliced
½ sweet red onion
4-6 oz of hard salami diced
⅓ cup sliced ripe olives
⅓ cup sliced green olives
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
½ cup sliced cucumber
8 oz of fresh mozzarella pearls or chunk, cut into bite-size cubes
¼ cup shaved Parmesan
¼ cup thinly sliced fresh basil
Kosher salt and coarse ground pepper, to taste
Sweetener to taste (honey, maple syrup, splenda or sugar), if needed for balance
Instructions:
- Cook the pasta, drain but don’t rinse, let cool
- Whisk together dressing ingredients
- In a large bowl, mix together all the salad ingredients, add dressing and mix throughly again.
- Sweeten, salt and pepper to taste
- Chill covered in the fridge
Now go find you some EYE-Tallians to impress with your Salad!