What's On the Side: Summer Pasta Salad

This past weekend, D and I were invited to a Barn Party at our friend's farm down in Milladore, Wisconsin. Along with my prize-winning chocolate chip cookies, I also brought along this savory pasta dish to share at the potluck.

The inspiration for this recipe comes from the cookbook Seriously Delish by Jessica Merchant, who is also the creator of the blog How Sweet It Is. The cookbook is gorgeous and features accessible recipes covering breakfast, lunch, dinner, and nearly everything in between.

Along with engaging -- sometimes irreverent, often hilarious -- headnotes, each recipe features a full-color image, which I love -- particularly as I am someone who likes to see what the resulting dish is supposed to look like at the end. I had to stop bookmarking recipes to try as nearly every page was earmarked.

Since I was making the salad for a crowd, I doubled the proportions of the ingredients. And of course, I couldn't help but tweak a few other things. Rather than peeling the asparagus into ribbons as called for by the recipe, I chopped it into bite-size pieces instead. I also added sliced black olives to the mix and switched honey with maple syrup for the sweetener in the dressing. This pasta salad is filling, zesty, and a great way to use those zucchini and tomatoes that are growing like crazy in the garden this time of year.

Summer Pasta Salad (printer-friendly version)
makes 16-18 servings

For the dressing:
2/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

For the asparagus and zucchini:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound asparagus, ends removed and cut on the diagonal into bite-sized pieces
4 small zucchinis, ends removed, halved lengthwise and sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced

24 ounces (1 1/2 boxes) fusilli pasta, cooked (Note, if you prefer a higher veg:pasta ratio, use just one 16 ounce box of pasta)
2 pints grape or cherry tomatoes, quartered or halved, depending on size
1 8-ounce can sliced black olives
8 ounces crumbled feta cheese

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the olive oil, red wine vinegar, and maple syrup until well-combined. Stir in the chopped basil, chopped oregano, salt, and pepper. Set aside.
2. Heat the olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the asparagus and zucchini and cook until just softened, 2-3 minutes. Stir in the minced garlic and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Remove from the heat.
3. Add the cooked pasta to a large serving bowl. Add the asparagus mixture, tomatoes, sliced olives, and feta and gently stir to combine. Then pour the dressing over the pasta mixture and toss to coat. Refrigerate the salad for at least 30 minutes. Toss once more and season with additional salt and pepper to taste just before serving.

(adapted from a recipe in the cookbook Seriously Delish by Jessica Merchant)

What's On the Side: Pesto Pasta Salad

For the long Memorial Day weekend, D and I packed up the car, and, along with Leroy, made the eight-hour trip up through the UP, across the Mackinac Bridge, and down to D's family's cottage in northern Michigan. As usual, I brought with me a ton of books and magazines to read (I'm forever behind on all my magazine subscriptions), and this time I also brought along my slow cooker and a cooler full of groceries. (Yes, they have grocery stores in northern Michigan, but I'm the first to admit I'm a bit picky about where my food comes from (read: how it was raised/grown).)

My food duties over the weekend included making sweet potato homefries and crispy bacon as part of our breakfast on Saturday and pulled pork (cooked in the slow cooker) sandwiches for dinner on Sunday. Along with the pulled pork sandwiches I served a pesto pasta salad, inspired by a recent post by Joy the Baker. I also meant to serve some baked beans with the sandwiches, but completely spaced on doing so, which I discovered when I pulled the can out of our grocery bag while unpacking upon our return to Wisconsin. Whoopsies! Good thing I did remember to serve the veggie potato chips on the side as well!

This pasta salad is quick to put together, and most of the time is spent waiting for the pasta to cook. Of course, this is not wasted time, as you can spend it prepping the other ingredients, chopping the olives, tomatoes, and pistachios, and slicing the cheese. I'm a huge fan of pistachios (the shelling of which does quite the job on my manicure, sigh) so I was totally into the addition of these salty and crunchy nuts to the mix. The sweetness of the tomatoes works wonders with the savoriness of the olives, and the pesto sauce helps to meld all the flavors together. And if you know anything about me, you know that I love cheese. Fresh mozzarella is one of my favorite things, and it adds just the right amount of creaminess to this fresh summertime salad.

Pesto Pasta Salad (printer-friendly version)
makes 8-10 servings

4 cups dried chiocciole pasta
4 tablespoons basil pesto
1 pint organic cherry tomatoes, sliced in quarters
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, sliced
1/4 cup shelled salted pistachios, chopped

1/2 cup fresh small mozzarella balls, sliced in quarters

fresh basil, for garnish

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Season with salt, then add the pasta and cook according to the manufacturer's instructions. Drain the pasta and return it to the pot. Let the pasta cool slightly.
2. Stir in the pesto until the pasta is evenly coated. Stir in the tomatoes, olives, pistachios, and mozzarella. Garnish with fresh basil and serve.

(adapted from this Joy the Baker recipe)