Vinaigrette Pasta Salad

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Pasta Salad & Fish by Pastarella Maker
Pasta Salad & Fish, a photo by Pastarella Maker on Flickr.

The other night I decided fish topped with black bean-corn salsa would be on that night’s dinner menu, but I only had a vague idea of what I’d use as sides to complete this meal. One of my ideas was to do a play on this Everyday Food Broccoli, Chickpea and Cherry Tomato salad since DH’s not fond of chickpeas. The other was going to be chunks of grilled baguette with rubbed garlic and lightly buttered. Nice, right?

Pasta Salad by Pastarella Maker
Pasta Salad, a photo by Pastarella Maker on Flickr.

By the time the end of yesterday rolled around, DH decided he needed to stay late so he was going to drop me off at home so I could hit the grocery store across the street before starting dinner. By the time I got going, I decided I would sub out the chickpeas for slices of cukes from my FIL’s garden. I prepped it all and stored it in the fridge to assemble once DH finally got home.

He worked longer than I thought, but was as it turns out, he arrived home five minutes before the fish was to come out of the oven, so I jumped up and started the dressing for the side salad and to prep the bread for the oven toasting.

In my haste, I forgot all about the cuke slices as well as the bread chunks all together. Whoops. Oh, well. This side salad turned out beautifully anyway with its lovely vinaigrette taste that made both of us think of summer time picnics where the coleslaw was a huge draw. So nostalgic. The meal, as it was, turned out to be so filling, the MIA bread chunks weren’t missed at all.

Since there is only two of us, and I had to use up all of my broccoli in one go, I ended up with a lot of leftover salad. Without missing a beat, I took out the bowl of cooked tubetti pasta from the fridge I was going to use in a casserole or frittata on the weekend, and made another batch of the dressing to create a gorgeous and very satisfying cold (or room temperature) summer pasta salad.

This will be a perfect companion to any other meat dish I make for dinner this long weekend, or simply on its own in a bowl for a quick, filling lunch. The fiber content in this one salad alone blows me away. So, if you need to bulk up your fiber intake for heath concerns, give this salad a go!

[Recipe via MSL’s Everyday Food]

  • 1 pound broccoli, separated into florets (4 cups)
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar (I used white vinegar and it turned out nicely)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
  • Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas, drained and rinsed

Wash the broccoli well, dry off and cut into florets and medallians as you cut up the stalks, taking care all of it will steam cook in the same amount of time. Finely dice up the red onion and place in big bowl to start the dressing. At this point, I added roughly the same amount of finely sliced red onion chunks to the salad for overall pleasing colour and texture. Cut the tomatoes in half and set aside till after the broccoli is done steaming.

In the bowl with the diced onion, add the other ingredients to make the dressing, whisking well the incorporate the oil with the Dijon and vinegar. When that’s blended well, add the broccoli and top with the tomato halves as well as the red onion slices. Toss all of this in the bowl and serve immediately, or at room temperature, or chill for use later as a cold side salad.

Some swap outs to the chickpeas if you’re not into them is tuna from a can, small pasta or cubes of any mild cheese. Really, you can play around and make this salad your own but adding more or stripping it down to just the broccoli. It’s your kitchen, it’s you’re choice, Chef. 🙂

Artisan Bread

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Fugly Artisan Bread

Fugly Artisan Bread

(From the archives)

I sliced this loaf at the grocery store using their big slicer machine. Everything was going well till, like an a**h**e, the high top of the bread got stuck in the feed.

I think it turned out all right despite that little mishap, though. *ahem*

Baked Buttermilk Chicken

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Baked Buttermilk Chicken

Baked Buttermilk Chicken

(From the archives)

Baked buttermilk chicken (from Everyday Food), freshly picked green beans with tomato & cucumber in olive oil salad. I have been playing with the methods of baking this chicken so it doesn’t stick to my bakeware. The only method that works for me is Pam sprayed tin foil lining of the cookie sheet.

Baked Buttermilk Chicken With Green Bean Salad

Baked Buttermilk Chicken With Green Bean Salad

Spicy Chickpeas

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Spicy Chickpeas

Spicy Chickpeas

(From the archives)

Chickpeas, diced tomatoes, finely chopped onion, turmeric, cumin, yellow curry, dried parsley, S&P and olive oil.

Sweat onions and seasoning in olive oil in the bottom of rice cooker for five minutes. Add drained diced tomatoes, cook another 5-8 minutes, then add the chickpeas and parsley. Cook another ten minutes till the beans are soft but not mushy. Serve over rice of your choice.

Note: I would have used fresh parsley from my garden but I forgot to pick some this morning, so I made due with the dried version. I did, however, rub the herb as I let it leave my hands to release the maximum flavouring. Also, fresh cilantro would do beautifully as a seasoning.

Kitchen Sink Chicken Parm

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Kitchen Sink Chicken Parm

Kitchen Sink Chicken Parm

(From the archives)

Penne pasta from the back of my cupboard, chiffon cut flat leaf parsley from my garden, leftover baked buttermilk chicken breasts (recipe from Everyday Food), homemade stale bread + seasoning breadcrumb crust on the chicken, aging mozza cheese strips, topped with jar tomato sauce with cheeses added.