We all know that summer gatherings are, more than likely, gonna feature a salad of some kind or another.
Potato. Bean. Pasta.
Hmmm… but, how about a bean and pasta salad? And one without any mayo, so, easy to transport for outdoor festivities, yet still wicked tasty, wicked refreshing, and just a bit different from your more run of the mill expected pasta and/or bean salads. Go ahead, make this and be a star.
Note: the original recipe for this salad comes from the nice folk at Southern Living; but I switched out the beans called for, doubled the dressing amount, and added blanched asparagus and roasted bacon because, well, why wouldn’t I?
Ermmm, I also added one of our new fave salad ingredients: Peruvian “Sweety Drop” peppers – a bit pricey, but available at Amazon. Feel free to skip these, but they are kinda cunning and tasty, so…
INGREDIENTS
Salad:
•1 bag small whole green beans, thawed
•1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
•1 can chick peas, drained and rinsed
•Sweety Drop Peruvian Peppers
•8 oz small shell pasta,
cooked, drained, and rinsed
•Blanched asparagus, sliced
Dressing:
•2 small shallots, minced
•6 tbsp rice wine vinegar
•4 tbsp lemon juice
•1 tbsp Zippy & Sweet Mustard
•1 tbsp honey
•3/4 cup olive oil
•3/4 cup canola oil
•2 tsp Seasoned Salt
•1 tsp black pepper
•1 tsp Aleppo pepper
•2 tsp dried chives
Note: you wanna know why I doubled the amount of dressing called for? It is really basic pasta salad 101 – always make extra dressing and use half to toss just the pasta; stashing it in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight to allow the pasta to soak up the dressing (and flavor!) before completing your salad.
So! Cook, drain, and rinse your pasta according to package instructions.
Combine the dressing ingredients in an immersion blender beaker, or a blender jar, and pulse until emulsified.
Stir half of your dressing into the cooked, drained, and rinsed pasta in a container, cover, and stash in the fridge for a couple of hours or (always more better) overnight.
Transfer the remaining dressing to another container and chill until needed.
When ready to make the salad – first: notice how much of that dressing the pasta has absorbed? Yeh – and all that flavor, too.
Now, in a bowl larger than you think you’re gonna need (see yesterday’s post); combine the pasta with the remaining salad ingredients, add the remaining dressing, and toss mix well.
Yeppers – this is one fine bean salad – and a far leap (in a good way) from what most folk would be expecting.