So I have an ongoing challenge to myself to take the components from any one place to make a meal. For the last few years, I've had the extra challenge of not having a real kitchen to cook in, only plug-in appliances and a small refrigerator. This has meant that I eat a lot of simple salads, using oil and vinegar as a dressing.
That wasn't going to work when I needed a ready-made entree to take to a party. I needed to make something where I wouldn't be stuck trying to store lots of leftover ingredients. I feel that I succeeded in this pasta salad because it covered these bases:
- total ingredients bought in a $20 shopping trip
- minimal cooking
- simple prep/short time to prep
- varied and tasty
- organic ingredients
- vegetarian
- good for hot weather
This recipe makes good use of Trader Joe's package sizes. You'll need something to cook pasta (appliance and pot or dish), refrigeration or other cold-holding, containers for cut vegetables, a zester/peeler if you have one, a cutting board, and a knife.
Because I used the marination from the mozzarella as the dressing, to make a dairy free/vegan version of this, you would need to substitute in a vegan dressing with garlic and herbs as well as leaving out the two cheeses.
Cooling the cooked pasta apart from the raw veges allowed the marinate flavor to sink in to the cooked ingredients. I didn't have any large containers, so I had to use several. This is how I split it up for travel. It was assembled at the final destination.
A) penne, broccoli, parmesan cheese, peppers, cherry tomatoes
B) cucumber, carrots
C) mozzarella
D) olive can unopened
TJ Trip Pasta Salad
Organic Penne Rigate, dry, 8oz (half of the package)
Organic broccoli (1 package crowns or crowns from 1 stem)
Purple carrots (2 from package of organic rainbow carrots), thinly sliced
1 organic cucumber, seeded and thinly sliced
4 mini bell peppers (from 8oz package of baby bell peppers, red to yellow), slivered
Organic cherry tomatoes (3/4 of a 10oz package) cut in half
12 oz Marinated Mozzarella (small mozzarella balls in oil/herb/vinegar marinade)
Slivered parmesan cheese, about 1 oz (to taste)
Sea salt (to taste)
Cook 8oz of penne in a saucepan for 7 minutes, or until cooked but still very firm. For me, this means:
boil water in an electric kettlepouring enough water to cover the penne in the pot, cover with lidstart timerleave the covered pot on a hot plate until there's a rolling boil, turn off the hot plate
Add the cut broccoli crown pieces directly into the pot. Cover and cook for 3 minutes. (If you are using whole broccoli, save the stem! Cut away the hard outer layer and slice the tender middle for stir fry or soup.)
Drain. Pour 2 Tablespoons of the mozzarella marinade into the mixture; stir until coated evenly. Cool for 1-2 hours in the refrigerator. After cooling, add salt to taste.
Cut up the rest of the vegetables after washing. Thinly slice the carrot into elongated coins. Use the zester to peel furrows into the skin of the cucumber before slicing, then seed (if desired) and slice thinly.
Select four (about 4 oz) of the baby bell peppers, orange and yellow. Cut off the tops, slice in half lengthwise, and scrape out all seeds. Slice each half against the grain into slivers. Cut each cherry tomato in half.
Assemble: cooled pasta, broccoli, parmesan, vegetables. Add the marinated mozzarella balls. Spoon out the herb mixture from the marinade over the cheese, but not the rest of the marinade liquid. (Save for future salad dressing.) Drain the olives and add them in.
Makes 4 entree portions or party food for 8.
