Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Presto Pasta Night: Pasta Salad


This week will be the 51st week of Ruth's Presto Pasta Night. I've only contributed to 4 previous weeks (see the selections, here, but it has been a great way to share my pasta meals and get ideas for future meals.

This past weekend, I went overnight camping with a group of 9 others. Each person brought some food that, at most only required warming up (e.g., vegetable soup). Being that we were only using a wood oven, we made a point of avoiding boiling water or trying to fry anything.

I offered to bring a pasta salad. Although it's more of a summer dish, being that it is served cold, it made for a great option when cross-country skiing into the cabin. I was able to leave it in the snow for a couple of hours and it tasted great at dinner.

Pasta Salad
(I made a double recipe...but couldn't fit it all into the container)



1 box of fusili or rotini
about 1/2-3/4 cup of pesto
1-2 plum tomatoes (or cherry tomatoes, cut in half)
1/2 english cucumber, slided into half moons
1/2 head of brocolli
feta (as desired)

I know it's not very attractive in the container. It wasn't very easy to take a good picture of the plate of food either. Between relying solely on candle light and my flash, this is all I could get:



The menu included a mixed green salad with mandarin and poppy seed dressing, carrots and celery slices, sweet potato soup, sliced baguette with swiss and chedder cheese, pasta salad, brownies and chocolate chip and cinnamon muffin tops. No one went hungry.

I'm going camping again next weekend, where we will share a warm pasta meal, cheese fondue and selection of other courses. StumbleUpon

9 comments:

Peter M said...

Can't get the leftovers to fit in the Tupperware?Do what I do...eat the excess!

Anonymous said...

Mmmmm...!

And I love the new look!

Emily said...

Camping sounds like fun! I'd spend the whole time eating, probably. Pasta salad, cookies, brownies. Then I would be too full to do anything.

PG said...

peter m - We see to have similar problem solving strategies

ann - thanks! It's took me forever to figure out, but I like the pictures.

emiline - That's pretty much how we spent our time...eating and drinking.

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

Great minds think alike Giz :D

PG said...

bellini valli - sorry for the confusion - the post/comment was written by me, Psychgrad. Giz is my mom.

test it comm said...

This pasta salad sounds like it would make a tasty camping food.

Ruth Daniels said...

Great dish and thanks for sharing with Presto Pasta Nights. I do hope you plan on bringing something to the big birthday bash next week.

PG said...

kevin - it definitely did. I wanted to avoid a cream-based sauce (or anything with mayo). So pesto was a great solution.


ruth - thank! We plan to be at the b-day bash with birthday hats and noisemakers.

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