We are off to a summer picnic with friends and decided to make a cool summery pasta salad. I have always loved the concept of a good pasta salad but never liked the mayonnaise-filled-mess which seems to be so prevalent. Developed this recipe (obviously after some search on the internet) around the juicy, delicate fennel which I picked up at the Farmer’s market in Carrboro. Fennel and apple are a classic combination. I have added some dried fennel seeds to kick up the fennel flavor and some red chilli flakes for the heat at the end of the bite. I wish I could add something more to make the sald more colorful but the flavor of the fennel is so delicate that I am always worried about overwhelming the mild sweet licorice flavor.
4 cups boiled bow-tie or any short cut pasta
Below ingredients finely chopped –
½ apple
1 medium sized cucumber
1 medium sized tomato (deseeded, seeds make it watery)
1 banana pepper
A handful of Fennel fronds for garnish
Thin slivers of ½ a bulb of fennel
Roughly chopped almonds, a handful (the more the better for me!)
1 ½ teaspoon fennel seeds – lightly crushed to release the flavours
½ teaspoon red chilli flakes
½ teaspoon sugar
Salt
For the dressing –
1 ½ teaspoon mustard
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
½ cup good extra virgin olive oil
Whisk the dressing ingredients together and set aside. Let the boiled pasta cool to room temperature before you start building the salad. Mix all the veggies, almonds, fennel etc and toss in the salad dressing. Garnish with the fennel fronds.
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