glee

you can also find me at…

adopt someone!
«  
  »

Barefoot! Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta Salad

SunDriedTomatoPasta

**not gluten free**

Wow. Not only is today my birthday, it’s my turn to pick what all of the lovely Barefoot men and women are cooking up this week!  When I joined Barefoot, I was so low on the list I calculated that it would be 2014 by the time I got to pick what our group would be making.  I remember the day I stumbled upon the Barefoot website. I was a newbie blogger (still am) and how no idea what I was getting myself into. I checked out the Rules & Req page and shot off an email to the wonderful Tara asking if I could please, pretty please be a part of her group.

I waited with bated breath for an answer.  When I clicked over to my email and saw Tara’s response I nearly squealed with delight.  I’d been accepted!  Of course, I had no idea what I was getting into, nor did I realize just how much some of the people I met along the way would end up affecting my life not only as a blogger, but as a person.

SunDriedTomatoPrep

I actually agonized for weeks about my choice for Barefoot this month.  I wanted something summery and light.  I had stipulations though.  I wanted to be careful to consider the vegetarians in our group.  I didn’t want to make a dessert because I didn’t want to be responsible for 150 ovens being on in the dead of summer.  Finally, I chose Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta Salad.  The dish was something I never would have made prior to my involvement with barefoot.  I’m just not that in to sun-dried tomatoes.  My taste buds have been changing though and the point of joining a group like Barefoot was to expand my culinary repertoire.  I sent my email to Tara with my choice of dishes and went about my day.  The next day I opened up The Pioneer Woman and… oh that can’t be! Stroke of good luck!  Ree dished up the salad and added pointers too!

SunDriedTomatoDressing

Without further ado…

Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta Salad
 Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa

1/2 lb bowtie pasta
 1/2 lb corksrew pasta (I used whole wheat for texture)
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
Red Pepper flakes (my addition to give it a little kick)
1 lb fresh tomatoes
 3/4 c good black olives, such as Kalamata, pitted and roughly chopped
1 t capers (used about 2 t)
1 lb fresh mozzarella pearls
6 sun-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped (oops- forgot these)
For the Dressing:
5 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained (I used 9-10)
2 T red wine vinegar
6 T good olive oil
1 clove garlic (I used 3)
Salt & Pepper to taste (easy on the salt)
 1 c freshly grated parmesan
1/4 c fresh basil leaves, julienne

Taking guidance from The Pioneer Woman, I made the dressing the night before I served this.  (The only thing I did differently was add the parmesan in chunks to the food processor and make it a part of the dressing.)

For the dressing: combine the sun-dried tomatoes, olive oil, vinegar, garlic, red pepper flakes and capers in a food processor and process until almost smooth. Season lightly with salt and generously pepper. Cover and refrigerate for 12-24 hours.

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.  Cook pasta until al dente.  Drain well.  Transfer to a large mixing bowl.  Allow to cool slightly, stir in fresh tomatoes, olives and mozzarella pearls.

Serve with an additional sprinkling of parmesan cheese.

Results: Uh. WOW!  For something I never would have tried, this has now become one of my favorite dishes.  The Husband could not stop eating it.

Tomatoes

I hope everyone enjoyed the choice… because, you know… I’m sitting here wringing my hands hoping everyone loved it as much as we did.

Share
July 9th, 2009 | Category: Barefoot Contessa, Delta Whiskey in the Kitchen

33 comments to Barefoot! Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta Salad

Leave a Reply

 

 

 

You can use these HTML tags

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>