This pasta salad, by far, will become one of your favorites. Not only does it taste delicious, but it only has a few easy ingredients. I used one pound of pasta and doubled the dressing for the crowd I was making it for, but please feel free to adjust the amounts for quantity and taste.
Here is what you will need:
3 cups (8 ozs) pasta
1 tsp salt
Fresh snap peas
1 pkg frozen cooked medium shrimp (add more if compelled...my favorite part!)
1 basket cherry tomatoes
5 scallions, cut
shredded Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup Pesto
1/4 cup light mayonnaise
The pasta I chose was Pipette because it doesn't fall apart when you cook it like shells do. I also cooked it al dente.
Defrost the shrimp, making sure to dry it as much as possible. When your pasta is done, pour into a colander and run cold water over it to stop the cooking process. Add your shrimp.
Cut the tips off of your snap peas and cut into bite-size pieces.
As for the tomatoes, I cut them in half lengthwise, and laid them out on paper towels. I wanted to get as much of the juice and seeds out as I could, so they wouldn't make the salad watery. I also add these last, just before I serve the salad so they won't get mushy.
When it comes to cutting the scallions, I find the easiest way to do it is with scissors. That way the scallions don't get crushed as they do when you use a knife.
Combine everything (except for your tomatoes) into one bowl and prepare your dressing.
I add half the dressing now, and refrigerate the salad for a while. This lets the pasta absorb some of the dressing. Just before I serve the salad, I add the other half, along with the tomatoes and a generous amount of shredded Parmesan cheese. Salt and pepper to taste and you are good to go.
There you have it. Please make sure to taste this! I ended up adding more scallions because I wanted a little more "oniony" flavor. Feel free to add anything else you would like, such as olives or artichoke hearts, or celery...... the ideas are endless!
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