Pasta Salad with Tomato Dressing

What is a summer holiday or picnic without a pasta salad?  It is like apple pie or burgers.  You gotta have it or it isn’t officially a picnic.

Since the purpose of all these recipes is to trick, er I mean tempt, the meat eaters in the family to come over to the dark side, I have to play on foods they are familiar with, but the main ingredient can’t be something that depends solely on meat or dairy.

You would think macaroni salad would be a no-brainer here, but I didn’t want to rely on vegan mayo or a simple oil and vinegar dressing.  I also had to play with the type of pasta.

This is how Tim’s week went when I was playing around with this recipe:

Me: Here, taste this pasta salad

Tim: (Looking at it like I am offering him live crickets) I don’t wanna

Me: I’m not asking you to take a bath in it, I just need you to take one taste to tell me what you think.  I’m not sure about the pasta and I think the flavor could be bumped up a bit.

Tim:  Really don’t want to

Me: Do you want me to taste it first so you know there isn’t poison in there?

Tim: (sigh) Fine. (Trying to pick off a single grain of pasta from the fork so I would leave him alone).  You’re right.  It needs something.

Next day:  Same scenario, pretty much the same conversation. Different pasta as a base.

Me: I think this pasta really makes a difference, also I added some vinegar.

Tim: white vinegar?

Me: Apple cider vinegar

Tim: I would have added white vinegar.

Me: What are you, a vinegar connoisseur?  Just try it.

Tim: Fine, but I’m sure it would taste better with white vinegar.  That is what I always added when I made macaroni salad.

Me:  Yes, and you added egg and mayo and some sugar…see where I am going here?

Tim: I still think it would be better with white vinegar.

For the record:  No matter how tempted you are to use a brown rice pasta or a multi-grain pasta.  DON’T!  Find a pasta that is as bland as you can.  I settled on quinoa orzo.  The dressing is delicate, even with the vinegar and will be overpowered by anything too flavorful.  And, yes, Tim did finally like the finished product.  I even got him to eat a small bowl full!

Ingredients:

• 1 (8oz) package pasta  (Cannot stress strongly enough that this needs to be a very mild pasta like quinoa orzo)
• 1 cup corn (fresh is good, but frozen is just as good and way easier)
  

  Not pictured is the corn. It was absent on picture day.

   

• 1 cup diced red bell pepper
• 1/4 -1/2 cup sliced green onions

Dressing:

• 1 medium yellow heirloom tomato, roughly chopped (about a cup)
• 1/2 head roasted garlic
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon dried mustard (or more to taste)
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.  I usually make the pasta a bit al dente since it holds up better if you are going to keep the pasta for a few days. Drain and allow to dry a bit.
2. Make the dressing by putting all ingredients in a high speed blender and puree till smooth.  Taste and adjust seasonings.  If you want to make it have a bit of a kick, you can add crushed red pepper in addition to or instead of the mustard. Dressing makes almost 1 cup.
3. Put the pasta in a large bowl and add all the veggies.  Toss well to combine, then add  the dressing and toss to mix.  Refrigerate several hours to let the flavors blend.

Enjoy!