Continuing on a Cooking Thread -- Pasta Salad
For some reason, Husband and I make a lot of Pasta Salad. We have a friend who shows up with a couple bags of groceries now and again, puts them on the kitchen table and leaves for a while, long enough for us to turn them into a pasta salad.
What she brings is a box of Penni or Rotini, a green pepper (at least -- there have been times when she can't make up her mind and brings all three colors), a can of black olives, Parmesan cheese, shredded carrots, and a bottle of Italian dressing. She knows we always have tomatoes, celery, cucumber, an onion and herbs. I grow oregano, garlic chives, parsley, rosemary and mint, but I have back-ups of most of them dried and on my shelf.
This is a two-person job. We cook the pasta according to directions and while that's cooking, we wash and cut celery, cucumber, onion and black olives -- and I shred carrots if she forgot them -- I have a hand-crank machine I got at a yard sale. By then, the pasta has been lifted, and drained and covered again with cold water to wait to be drained again and go into the bowl.
We use the biggest bowl we have to collect the vegetables in. I go outside to pick reasonable amounts of oregano, garlic chives etc., knowing from experience how much I need. While I'm doing this, Husband pours about half a bottle of Italian dressing into the blender, throws in some Parmesan, maybe a little sharp cheddar or Colby-Jack, and stands there tapping a wooden spoon on the counter until I get the other herbs ready to throw in. Then he blends all that into a dressing that smells DEVINE!
I toss the pasta into the bowl with the veggies, Husband pours on the dressing and a few shakes of salt and pepper, and I steal his wooden spoon to stir with. It's best to go to the bottom of the bowl and lift upward, turning the bowl a little each time. Then I cover the salad with plastic wrap and put it into the refrigerator until our friend shows up .
This will serve us twice, with some for our friend to take home -- or one fairly large church dinner.
What she brings is a box of Penni or Rotini, a green pepper (at least -- there have been times when she can't make up her mind and brings all three colors), a can of black olives, Parmesan cheese, shredded carrots, and a bottle of Italian dressing. She knows we always have tomatoes, celery, cucumber, an onion and herbs. I grow oregano, garlic chives, parsley, rosemary and mint, but I have back-ups of most of them dried and on my shelf.
This is a two-person job. We cook the pasta according to directions and while that's cooking, we wash and cut celery, cucumber, onion and black olives -- and I shred carrots if she forgot them -- I have a hand-crank machine I got at a yard sale. By then, the pasta has been lifted, and drained and covered again with cold water to wait to be drained again and go into the bowl.
We use the biggest bowl we have to collect the vegetables in. I go outside to pick reasonable amounts of oregano, garlic chives etc., knowing from experience how much I need. While I'm doing this, Husband pours about half a bottle of Italian dressing into the blender, throws in some Parmesan, maybe a little sharp cheddar or Colby-Jack, and stands there tapping a wooden spoon on the counter until I get the other herbs ready to throw in. Then he blends all that into a dressing that smells DEVINE!
I toss the pasta into the bowl with the veggies, Husband pours on the dressing and a few shakes of salt and pepper, and I steal his wooden spoon to stir with. It's best to go to the bottom of the bowl and lift upward, turning the bowl a little each time. Then I cover the salad with plastic wrap and put it into the refrigerator until our friend shows up .
This will serve us twice, with some for our friend to take home -- or one fairly large church dinner.
posted by Jane Bierce | 1:24 PM
1 Comments:
Sounds very good Fribble....like a taste of spring. Even in Southern California we are anxious for Spring!
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