Saturday, November 15, 2008

It's easy to eat green...

Two of our closest friends are going to be moving to California soon, and tomorrow we're going to be having a going-away party for them. It's a potluck, and being as I couldn't think of anything good that I already knew how to make - I decided to create something new.

Inspired by the year-round greenness of Southern CA (for the most part) and my most recent post about peas... I set off to Hannaford and got to work. At the request of Steve, I'm putting in a bit more effort to write down the things that I create and made sure to write down every single ingredient I put into this dish.

The result: Green Pasta Salad



Ingredients:
- 1 lb. penne, cooked to package instructions
- 1.5 cups frozen peas, thawed (but not cooked)
- 1 each/6 oz. bag baby spinach
- 1/3 cup chopped green onions (scallions)
- 2 cubanelle peppers, seeded & chopped (approx. 1 cup)
- 1 medium cucumber, seeded & chopped (approx. 1.5 cups)
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan-Romano cheese
Dressing Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp Champagne wine vinegar
- Zest of 1 lime (approx. 3 tbsp)
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp thyme
- 1/4 tsp sage
- 1 tbsp dried parsley
- Salt & Pepper

Method:
- Cook & drain pasta and put back in pan.
- Immediately incorporate entire bag of baby spinach in with pasta and cover pasta pan. Stir in between vegetable choppings to wilt the spinach, and cover immediately after each stirring.
- Once spinach is wilted, in bowl combine pasta/spinach and all remaining vegetables.
- Make dressing per ingredient list above, whisk together in small bowl.
- Pour dressing over contents of bowl and stir until everything is evenly coated.
- Add cheese and stir until cheese is evenly distributed.
- Allow to sit overnight in fridge so ingredients can settle and "meld".
- Serve chilled.

I took a bite before I popped it in the fridge to make sure it didn't suck. I thought it was pretty darn good, and can't wait to see what it tastes like tomorrow after settling all together overnight.

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