On a hot summer day, I love to have pasta salad for dinner. They are so easy to just fix up to accommodate whatever you have in the fridge, and you can add anything from hard boiled egg to leftover chicken, tuna, some steamed salmon, or shrimp. This one is dressed with oil, vinegar, some fresh shaved Parmesan, and dried herbs, but you could substitute some fresh ones from your garden. I like to use a variety of colored peppers to give it more color-when I made it this time, I was just using up what was in my fridge so it was a little blah looking. Go wild!
250 g vegetable fusilli pasta, or plain pasta
1 red pepper, slivered
2 cups zucchini, slivered
½ cup sliced green onions
6 mushrooms, sliced
¼ cup carrot, peeled and grated
½ cup sliced celery
⅓ cup olive oil
¼ cup red wine vinegar
2 tsp Parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
¼ tsp oregano
¼ tsp basil
¼ tsp garlic powder.
In a large pot of boiling water, cook pasta according to instructions on the box until al dente. Drain and rinse under cold water so it doesn’t cook further, and set aside. Toss in a large bowl with the sliced and chopped vegetables.
In a small bowl, mix together the olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, oregano, basil, and garlic powder. Drizzle over top of the pasta mixture and toss well before sprinkling over the Parmesan cheese and tossing again. Chill or serve immediately.
Makes 8 servings
