Love with the Proper Pasta

I love pasta. My friend Kumiko would eat Italian food seven nights a week if it were allowed, and I wouldn’t be far behind. Were it not for a spectre of the Michelin Man hovering over my shoulder, I’d gobble a side dish of pasta every night.

Well, I met a plate of pasta last Saturday that could be my dinner date any night. At a local potluck lunch, there wedged between the potato salad and a pot of Sanka was this dreamy bowl of pasta and vegetables, and beautiful colors. A pasta salad. Being the Italian food-aholic that I am, I sidestepped the chocolate cake, slipped around the hot dogs and fell in love with a bowl of pasta.

It would be selfish not to share this recipe.

COLORFUL PASTA SALAD

What you will need:

1 box of tricolor rotini pasta

2 cups of broccoli florets

2 cups of cauliflower florets

½ of a large green pepper, sliced

½ of a large yellow pepper, sliced

(red pepper too, if you like)

1 small summer squash

1 small zucchini

1 large tomato, chopped

¼ cup of sliced green olives with pimento

¼ cup of halved Greek calamata olives

4-5 leaves of red leaf lettuce for garnish

a few sprigs of parsley for additional garnish

Dressing:

Olive oil, fresh lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of chipotle sauce, salt and pepper.

The how-to on this one is uncomplicated. Cook the pasta, drain, then toss it in 2 tablespoons of olive oil and refrigerate. Steam the broccoli-cauliflower, the squash and the zucchini for 4 minutes. Let it all cool and mix it together with the pasta and other ingredients.

I’m nuts about this one, though it’s a pretty ordinary salad except for one thing—the teaspoon of

chipotle sauce.

Go figure; pasta and Tex-Mex.

Was hoping to add two additional photos to this post, but apparently Blogger doesn’t like pasta.