(Back story: Sally is living in D.C. doing the law school thing. When she wants to procrastinate on her work, she cooks/bakes. Lucky for me, that results in a blog post (or more?? :)) Here it is!
We're having a heatwave! This past weekend in DC the temperatures soared to nearly 110 degrees. The last thing you want to do when it's hot enough to melt outside is eat a hot and heavy meal. However, since you do need to eat something, a cold pasta salad can be just the thing. Pasta salad doesn't have to be that boring backyard cookout staple of cold pasta, a few veggies and some italian dressing. You can put anything in it you like. Change out the pasta, the mix-ins and the dressing and the possibilities are literally endless. This time I decided to go with a spin-off of a traditional caprese salad.
Ingredients:
1 box Orzo pasta (or any small pasta you like/have around)
2 or 3 tomatoes (depending on size) (chopped)
1 bunch of basil leaves (chopped)
1 ball of mozzarella cheese (cubed)
Sauce:
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp of Italian seasoning blend (mine has oregano, basil, thyme etc)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt (you can always add more later)
1/2 tsp of pepper
While you're cooking the pasta, chop up the tomatoes, cheese and basil. Mix the cheese and tomatoes in a bowl and set the basil aside to mix in at the end.
In a smaller bowl, whisk together the ingredients for sauce. Blend this really well.
When the pasta is done cooking, pour in a strainer and rinse with cold water to cool it down.
Mix everything together and voila! Fast, easy pasta dinner that didn't heat up your kitchen!
Total cost: $7.75 ($11.75 if you consider the $4 bottle of balsamic vinegar I had to buy, but this is a one time investment you can use in tons of recipes!)
Number of meals: 4-ish (depends on how much you eat at a meal)
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