Sundried Tomato Pasta Salad

I love pasta.

I love sun dried tomatoes.

I love Ree (aka Pioneer Woman).

The three come together in this amazing pasta salad recipe she shared a few weeks ago.  It looked sooo good. It looked easy.  And we had a Bible Study meeting to go to, so I thought I’d try it out.  I have to admit that I adapted it just a bit (mainly because I didn’t have a couple of the ingredients called for), but it’s all good.  It’s cooking…not rocket science!  There’s room for experimentation!  So, if you wanna see P-Dub’s Original version, clicky here.  Hers is wonderful, I am most certain (I haven’t tried a single PW recipe that I didn’t like!), but like I said, I was missing a few things so I just kinda went my own way a bit.  

Here’s how it went down in my kitchen one lazy Sunday afternoon. 

While hubby is sawing logs in the recliner and the kids are playing Wii, you march your little self into the kitchen and put a big pot of water on to boil.  Once the water comes to a full rolling boil, pour in about a pound of your favorite shape of pasta.  I almost always have rotini on hand, so that’s what I used.

Throw in a good amount of salt and give it a stir.

While the pasta is cooking, we’ll get our sun-dried tomato dressing made.  At my grocery store, I’ve only found the sun dried tomatoes in a plastic container in the produce section.  But you may find them in a jar, packed in oil.  If you buy the jarred kind, be sure to drain them well before proceeding.

Place about a 10 or 12 pieces of sundried tomatoes into a food processor bowl. 

Add a few tablespoons of olive oil.

Toss in a couple cloves of garlic.

Now, here is where I first went astray from PW’s original recipe.  And for a couple of reasons.  One…it called for red wine vinegar and I didn’t have any in the pantry.  Two…remember the Chicken Bryan recipe?  It had a nice sauce of sun-dried tomatoes and lemon juice/zest.  Mmmm…what a nice combination.  So, to replace the acidic vinegar, I used lemon juice.

Squeeze the juice of one lemon right into the processor bowl (being careful not to let the seeds slip into the bowl!)

Add in a pinch or two of salt and pepper and blend until the tomatoes are chopped pretty well.  Take a peek and if it looks too dry, add some more olive oil and blend a bit more.  You’re finished when it looks something like this:

 

Here’s another point where I went astray…I was out of olives, fresh basil AND cherry tomatoes.  What?  Quit looking at me that way…it was time for a grocery trip, okay?  So, I diced up a couple slices of bacon that were hangin’ out in the fridge and cooked them till they were nice and crispy.

Grate yourself about a cup each of parmesan and pecorino romano cheese.  I like the combination of the flavors, but feel free to just use 2 cups of either one instead.

 

By now, your pasta should be done.  Drain it and rinse it with cold water until it’s cool to the touch.

Place your pasta in a large bowl.  Toss in the bacon, about 1-1/2 cups of the cheeses and some of the dressing, stirring gently to coat.  At this point, you’ll also want to add in some basil and/or parsley.  Sadly, my parsley plant has just about seen it’s last days, so I had to use dried.  Same with the basil.   Although the salad tasted fine, I know it would have been even better with fresh herbs.  *Sigh*

As you’re stirring it all together, add more dressing until it reaches the consistency you like.  If you like your pasta salad a little more ‘dry’ – more pasta, less dressing, don’t add much.  If you like your pasta salad all goopy and drippy with loads of dressing, add it all.  Or, if you’re like me (and Goldilocks) and you like it in the middle, use just enough to get it “just right” for you.

Then, sprinkle the reserved 1/2 cup of cheese over the top. 

And finish it all off by putting a couple of lemon pinwheels on top!

Yummalicious! 

PRINTABLE RECIPE FOR SUNDRIED TOMATO PASTA SALAD

Taco Pasta

The other night I had thawed out and starting cooking some ground beef to make tacos.  I didn’t check to make sure we had everything we needed for tacos because, well, we always have what we need for tacos.  Always.  Except that night.  I opened the fridge to grab the tortillas and…um…hello??  Where are my tortillas?  I could have sworn that we had some, but no.  No tortillas.  Dug through the cabinets and found no hard taco shells either.  I was really in the mood for something of the mexican persuasion, so I was really bummed and agrivated.  And I had already started cooking the ground beef, so I had to do something with it.  And at that time, my friends, Taco Pasta was born.  I just made it up on the fly, and it turned out really good.  My husband says it was too much like “Hamburger Helper” for him, but he’s just weird, so I told him to bite me.  The kids and I thought it was great. 

So, to make this quick and easy Taco Pasta, you simple brown a pound of ground beef in a pan, throw in a can of black beans (rinsed and drained well), some tex-mex seasoning (I make my own – recipe below – but you can also use packaged taco seasoning), a little lime juice and some salsa – I just added until it looked moist enough.  If you didn’t have salsa, you could just add some choped onions, peppers, garlic and cook it along with the ground beef, then add some canned tomatoes.  That would work perfectly fine too, I’m sure. 

Then,  just boil some pasta until it’s al-dente (which means:  until  it’s done but still has a little bit of a ‘bite’ to it…it shouldn’t be total mush…mushy pasta…eww.)

Add the pasta to the meat mixture…

Then add a couple handfuls of shredded cheese…

Just cook through until the cheese melts and spoon it into serving bowls and top with a little more shredded cheese and some diced tomato.  (If we’d had an avocado, I’d have diced that up and put on top too.  But alas…no avocados in the house either)…

 

Like I said, the kids and I really like this and I thought it was a great quick-fix meal.  I may even try it using spanish rice instead of the pasta sometime…and maybe that would appease my Hamburger Helper-fearing husband.  He’s weird.  Did I mention that already?   And you could also do this with chicken instead of beef.

 

And here’s how I make my own Tex-Mex Seasoning.  You can adjust these spices to your tastes…

Combine the following in an airtight container:

2-1/2 tbsp chili powder

1-1/2 tbsp paprika

2 tbsp cumin

2 tsp oregano

1 tbsp garlic powder

1-1/2 tbsp onion powder

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (omit or use less if you like it mild, use more if you like it hot)

1 tsp salt

For one pound of ground beef, I use about 2 tablespoons or so of this seasoning.

 

If you have certain recipes or types of things you’d like to see here on my blog, please let me know…I’m always willing to experiment!