Pasta Salad with Greens and Asparagus
An easy to make spring/summer light pasta salad that is heavy on the veggies!
Servings 4 servings
Ingredients
The salad:
- 1 ½ cups pasta of your choice. I usually use orecchiette, bowtie, or strozzapreti. But anything works!
- 4 cups greens of your choice. I used a mix of arugula and spinach but also love baby greens and baby kale
- 1 cup cucumber, peeled, seeds removed and diced
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half. I like to use a variety of colors
- 10 basil leaves, chopped (or see how to chiffonade above)
- 1 small bunch asparagus, cut off woody ends then cut into 2" pieces, brushed with olive oil and roasted
- ½ cup crumbled feta
- ¼ cup roasted pine nuts
The Dressing:
- ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- zest of one small lemon
- 21/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 small clove garlic, peeled and minced (or grated with microplane)
- small pinch of crushed red pepper flakes, optional but encouraged
- pinch sea salt, a few turns of freshly ground pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees and place oven rack in center position. Place medium sized pot of salted water on high heat, when it's boiling add pasta and cook to package instructions
- Prepare all produce and herbs: place greens on a large platter or into a large bowl. Peel cucumber, cut in half, scrape out seeds with a spoon and dice. After washing, cut tomatoes in half and chop (or chiffonade) basil, place both in bowl with greens.
Roast Asparagus:
- Toss asparagus with 2-3 teaspoons olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and pepper and toss. Place in oven and roast for 8 minutes, remove from oven to cool.
Prep Salad Dressing:
- whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, zest, garlic, sea salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes
Put it all together:
- Allow asparagus to cool and bit, rinse pasta with cold water for 30 seconds. Add both to greens and vegetables, then add basil and feta, dress lightly, add pine nuts and toss. Taste, add sea salt and pepper if needed. I love heat so I usually add more red pepper flakes too.