Who doesn’t know what pasta is? Everybody do! Pasta is a staple food in Italian cuisine. Pasta is a noodle made from water, flour and eggs that is formed into different shapes. Pasta is cooked by either baking them in or by boiling. We think of pasta a simple dish but as versatile as tahini. It can be cooked in different ways. You can serve pasta either cold or hot; also can be mixed with fruits or vegetables; covered with sweet dressing or with spicy tomato sauce. What’s common about these pasta dishes are they’re served with a piece of garlic bread to sweep-off the sauce left on your plate.
There’s a rule when choosing a sauce for your pasta dish. Thick and chunky sauces are suitable for twisted or tube-like pasta. Creamy and simple sauce suites the noodle-like or thin long strips pasta. For long and thick pasta, it’s best paired with thick and creamy tomato sauce.
Here are is a pasta recipes you can enjoy.
Tahini Pasta Salad with broccoli –for people who likes eating pasta and vegetables, this is your answer. It doesn’t contain a lot of mayonnaise like what we mostly do with our veggie salad pasta. It’s healthier because in this salad dish, veggies outnumbered the pasta.
Ingredients:
- Pinch of salt
- Ground black pepper
- ¼ cup pine nuts
- 1 cup of green beans
- 1 small zucchini (in thin slices and cut in half)
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes (sliced)
- 3 cups small broccoli
- 2 cups fusilli pasta (uncooked)
- 4 sun-dried tomatoes (chopped)
For the Lemon Tahini Dressing
- ¼ tsp rock salt
- ½ tsp Dijon mustard
- ½ tsp maple syrup (or honey)
- 1 garlic clove (minced)
- 2 tbsp white vinegar
- 3 tbsp water
- 3 tbsp of tahini paste
- 3 tbsp virgin oil
- 3 tbsp of lemon juice
Procedure:
- In a bowl, mix salt, tahini and mustard first. Whisk them together,
- Add in lemon juice, maple syrup or honey, oil, garlic clove, and vinegar. Whisk them all together and make sure they totally blend in.
- It will be a thick consistency. If you want it to be yougurt-like and runny, gradually add with warm water and keep whisking until you achieved the consistency you like.
- Once finish, set a side. Either at room temperature or inside the fridge. Don’t put it inside a freezer.
- Prepare a bowl of water with a lot of ice. Boil water in a pot with salt in it. Once it reached the boiling point, put in the broccoli and blanch for 2 minutes or until it’s tender but still green in colour. After 2 minutes, remove immediately from the boiling pot and immerse right away in a bowl of cold water.
- Let the broccoli completely cool off. After drain the water and using paper towel, dry them off.
- Another pot of boiling water, add a pinch of salt again. And cook the pasta according to its package. After cooking/boiling, drain the water and let it cool-off in cold water, like what we did with the broccoli.
- Combine the cooked pasta, broccoli, basil, green beans, cherry tomatoes, and zucchini in a large bowl. Pour the dressing and gently toss them all together. Put some herbs and spices if desired and to taste. Don’t forget to sprinkle it nuts.
- Let is chill inside the fridge for 15 minutes. And it’s available for munching in.
- Note: Best consumed within two days and store inside the fridge.
I am really a big fan of pasta dishes, to be honest. My favourite pasta are baked macaroni, lasagne, and fruity macaroni salad. Yes, I can eat all of them in one meal (hahaha) how about you? Share your thoughts about this Tahini pasta dressing.