Saturday, April 16, 2011

Chilled pasta salad with basil, tuna and cherry tomatoes

Recipe for 4

Ingredients:
500gr. Penne pasta
400gr. cherry tomatoes, cut in half
2 courgettes, sliced
1 tin of tuna (good quality, in water)
1 handful of fresh basil leafs, thickly chopped
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper

Preparation:

Cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling salted water, according to package directions for al dente. Drain the pasta and place it under running water to stop cooking. Turn the pasta into a large salad bowl.
Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a frying pan and sauté the courgettes until tender but not browned. Turn off the heat and while still hot add the cherry tomatoes and the basil leafs. Give it a good stir and let the tomatoes and basil to extract their aromas without getting cooked. Let the ingredients in the pan to cool down and turn them into the salad bowl with the pasta. Give it a good stir to mix. Flake the tuna and add it into the salad bowl.
In a bowl mix the vinegar with the mustard and salt and pepper, then beat in the rest of the oil to make a dressing. Now is a good time to taste it – depending on the acidity of your vinegar you may need a bit more oil or vinegar, to make a balanced but tangy dressing.
Add the dressing into the salad bowl and toss the ingredients to coat with it. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least one hour.
Serve your pasta salad cold with a nice cold white wine. Enjoy!

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