Temperatures might drop this weekend… down into the high 80’s. With muggy air pressing in, it’s still a good time to keep the oven off! Try these recipes for easy cool pasta salads. Boil enough noodles for several meals, and you can eat cool leftovers all week!
Easy Pesto Pasta
Weaver Street Market sells ready-made pesto in the Grab N Go case. All you need to do is buy a container of pesto, boil some noodles, and mix. The pesto-to-noodle ratio is subjective. Start with ¼ cup pesto per pound (16 oz) of noodles, and then add more pesto if you think the dish needs it. If your garden is overflowing with tomatoes, deseed one, finely chop it, and toss it in.
Simple Sesame Noodles
Boil water for one pound (16 oz) of pasta noodles, and while you wait, mix up this sauce:
½ cup sesame oil
½ cup soy sauce
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
3 Tbsp sugar
(optional) 1 Tbsp hot sauce
You might need to heat the sauce to dissolve the sugar. Mix the noodles in the sauce along with 1 tsp sesame seeds and 2 chopped green onions. You can also add finely chopped, wilted greens (kale, spinach, chard).
Orzo Pasta Salad
Cook one pound (16 oz) of orzo pasta, and then mix in ½ cup olive oil, chopped tomato (I like to deseed them to avoid watering down the salad), halved olives, crumbled feta cheese, salt, and pepper. Add other veggies or herbs if you like.
You can also try these pasta salads with quinoa pasta! Quinoa is a good source of dietary fiber, phosphorus, magnesium, and iron. It is gluten-free and considered easy to digest. It also has a high protein content (12%–18%), which makes it a good choice for vegetarians and vegans, especially since it contains a complete set of essential amino acids.