Pasta salad
An ideal summer recipe to use up leftovers from your pantry and fridge: pasta salad!
You can follow my recipe or combine various ingredients yourself. Besides the pasta, make sure to include these four ingredients in your salad and you’re guaranteed a lot of ooh's and aah's at the table:
- vegetables (cucumber, tomato, raw bell pepper, and/or roasted vegetables)
- acidity (capers, lemon zest, lemon juice)
- salt (olives, sun-dried tomatoes, cheese)
- heat (black pepper, red onion, spring onion, red chilli)
Ingredients for 4 people:
300 grams of dried (wholemeal) pasta
Half a cucumber
1 red or yellow bell pepper
300-400 grams of ripe tomatoes
1 aubergine or 1 courgette
3-4 tablespoons of tasty pitted olives
1 heaped tablespoon of capers
2 or more bunches of herbs (basil, chives, parsley, mint, dill)
1 spring onion (not necessary if you don’t like the taste of raw onion)
Optionally 2 tablespoons of sun-dried tomatoes
Optionally 100 grams of cheese (mozzarella, feta, hard goat cheese, parmesan flakes)
Good olive oil
1 lemon
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt
Optionally 2-3 tablespoons pesto
Preparation:
Cook the pasta according to the package instructions until just done and rinse well. Shake out well, let cool, and immediately toss in some black pepper. Place in a large bowl.
Cut the courgette or aubergine into small cubes and sauté in a large pan until cooked and coloured. Courgette 8-10 minutes, aubergine 15-20 minutes. Add a pinch of salt while cooking.
Cut the tomatoes into wedges and the cucumber and bell pepper into small cubes. Finely chop the herbs (set aside a few leaves/twigs for garnish if desired) and slice the spring onion into small rings. Cut the sun-dried tomatoes into strips and the cheese into cubes.
Now mix everything except the cheese with the pasta and add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil, plenty of black pepper, and a pinch of salt, along with lemon zest (taste how much you like, I definitely use half the peel for this recipe) and some lemon juice. If you’re using pesto, leave out the olive oil and salt.
Place the cheese on top of the salad, optionally garnished with a few leaves of herbs.
Enjoy!
By: Marleen
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