summer pasta salad
Sometimes when we’ll come home on a hot summer day, a pasta salad is just the quick & easy meal to dish up!
It can be made the night before, so it will be nice & cold, or it can be made right on the spot!
Note: This pasta salad has no mayonnaise, so it’s also great as a potluck dish, where it might be out on the table for a while!
First, cook 1 pound of pasta until al dente (not mushy, just done). Rotini, also called rotelle, work well for this salad! Elbows or small shells are also very good!
Drain pasta & rinse in cold water, then refrigerate until ready to use.
INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup canola oil (the heart-healthy oil found along with all the other oils in the supermarket!)
1/2 of a lemon’s worth of juice
1 teaspoon horseradish
2 dashes balsamic vinegar
salt to taste
VEGETABLES:
Please note: The vegetables can be varied according to what you may have on hand! I like to add a variety of different colors & textures (some juicy & some crunchy)!
1 tomato, cubed
1 red pepper, diced
1 cucumber, diced or cubed
1 grated or diced carrot
1 cup of corn
8 to 10 olives of any kind, sliced (too many olives will dominate the whole salad–I start out with less & then add more as needed!)
fresh chives or other herbs, finely sliced
1 clove or more crushed garlic
Place pasta into a large bowl & mix in vegetables & then dressing ingredients…
Then, just adjust salt, oil, & vinegar to taste!
(If the pasta salad gets too salty, you can always add some more vegetables such as cucumber or tomato or carrot, or even a little bit of cold water to cut the salt a bit!)
If there is time, refrigerate to cool…otherwise, it’s just in time for dinner!
Enjoy!
love,
Clay Ball
