This weekend I decided grilled sausage (made at my favorite local deli) with peppers, mushrooms, and onions sounded like a really yummy and easy dinner. I'm not sure why, but I really couldn't get the idea of pasta salad as an accompaniment out of my head.
As I was brainstorming, I was torn. Bottled salad dressing is something I really try to avoid these days (so many additives!), but I also didn't feel like making an Italian dressing from scratch. As I mentioned in my post about the kale salad, my husband is critical of my real food attempts and I knew that if I tried to make a traditional pasta salad with gluten-free pasta and homemade Italian dressing I was setting myself up for complaints.
Instead, I found inspiration in my over-grown basil plant on the kitchen windowsill. I would make a pesto! I was counting on the stronger flavor of the pesto as a dressing to overshadow any flavor or texture issues that my husband could have with the brown rice pasta - and it worked! He didn't question the origins of the pasta and the salad wasn't measuring up against any expectation of what it *should* taste like so he just ate it and enjoyed. Success!
Obviously this salad could be made with regular pasta, but try it out with a gluten-free variety and see what you think!
Gluten-Free Pesto Pasta Salad
Ingredients
1/2 lb cooked, drained, and cooled brown rice pasta
1 cup halved grape or cherry tomatoes
1 cup packed basil leaves
1 tbsp pine nuts or almonds (I used almonds)
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/4 cup grated Parmesan (use good quality stuff, not the stuff from a can!)
1/4 cup olive oil
- Prepare the pasta and set aside to cool.
- Chop the tomatoes and set aside.
- Put all of the pesto ingredients into a food processor and blend. Add more oil, if needed, to thin appropriately.
- Mix the pasta, tomatoes, and pesto together.
- Chill at least two hours before serving for flavors to develop.
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