Summer’s when tomatoes are at their best. And what better way to celebrate this delicious vegetable than a cold pasta salad?
The tomato dressing is truly the hero of this dish. Everything else is a side show. This recipe was featured in a Sainsbury magazine and was created by one of its readers, winning the contest of that month. It’s easy to see why!
This wasn’t originally a vegetarian dish but it was easy to make it vegetarian. I have added What The Cluck ‘chicken’ pieces from the Vegetarian Butcher because I love them so much, but if you’re not a fan then this dish is filling enough to leave them out. You’ll also get the protein from the peas.
And because it is summer, and I want the tomatoes to truly be the hero, I also added some fresh cherry tomatoes. They truly are at their best this time of the year so I try to make the most of it!
Pasta salad with tomato dressing
15 minutes preparation + 10 minutes cooking — serves 2 to 3
Ingredients
- 220 grams dried spirali or penne
- 200 grams cherry tomatoes
- 200 grams frozen petit pois
- 2 vine tomatoes
- 1 red chili
- 2 garlic cloves
- 10-15 sundried tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons oil from the sundried tomatoes jar
- 2 teaspoons white wine or apple vinegar
- 1 pack of Waht The Cluck from the Vegetarian Butcher
- 0.5 tablespoon chicken seasoning
- 30 grams fresh basil
- Salt
- Oil
Preparation
- Heat a liter of water in a kettle.
- Cook the pasta with the preboiled water and a pinch of salt in a pot for c. 9 minutes.
- Add the frozen petit pois to the pasta and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Drain the pasta and petit pois and cool down under some cold water. Keep aside.
- While the pasta is cooking, mix the What The Cluck pieces with the chicken seasoning and a tablespoon of oil.
- Heat some oil in a pan and once hot, add the What The Cluck pieces. Fry for c. 7 minutes until brown and crispy.
- Remove the What The Cluck pieces from the pan and keep aside.
- Slice the chili.
- Wash the vine tomatoes and cut into large pieces.
- Add the chili, vine tomatoes, garlic, 5 sundried tomatoes, oil from the jar, vinegar, and half the basil to a food processor. Blitz for about a minute until smooth.
- Wash the cherry tomatoes and cut into quarters.
- Chop the remaining sundried tomatoes into smaller pieces.
- Mix the sundried tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, What the Cluck pieces, remaining basil, pasta and petit pois with the tomato dressing.
Enjoy your meal!
Did you like this?
Leave a comment below if you made this recipe, and let me know what you think. Tips and feedback to improve the recipe are always welcome too!