Lots of Pasta Salad

Pasta Salad with Goat Cheese and Arugula

 

So, when hubby stayed home the other day to cook he asked for a new salad recipe.  I had this one on my Pinterest page and thought it was worth the try.  It was just going to be my husband, myself and our son who loves pasta for dinner that night, so I knew we would have it covered with him.  While I was gone  he whipped this up and put the pasta, beans and cheese  in one bowl in the refrigerator and the dressing in another and he would mix it together right before we sat down to dinner that night.

 

I had not paid attention because I was out all afternoon and knew he had dinner covered. So later in the afternoon when my daughter and I got back from my mothers house, she opened up the refrigerator and took a small dish of the salad to try.  She was working that night and would not be around for the complete dinner.  As she was eating it she asked if this was all there was to the salad and not having been there I said "I think so".  "Well it is kind of dry Mom" was the reply. 

 

So dinner time came along and hubby pulls out the salad bowl and then the dressing bowl and started to mix them up.   Now it became clear that our daughter really didn't taste the true salad, just the pasta, beans and cheese and that was why it was dry.  I sent her this picture and asked if anything looked different....

 

 

 

This recipe is adapted from Martha Stewart 's recipe.  We doubled the dressing for this and suggest waiting until the pasta is cooled to mix with the goat cheese, otherwise the cheese will melt with the warm pasta.  In our opinion, the salad tasted better the second day.  

Ingredients

Coarse salt and ground pepper

3/4 pound gemelli or other short pasta

1 can (15 ounces) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

3/4 cup crumbled fresh goat cheese (3 ounces)

 

6 tablespoons olive oil

4 tablespoons red-wine vinegar

4 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1 bunch arugula (8 ounces), torn

1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced

Directions

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until al dente. Drain pasta and rinse under cold water. Allow to cool.  When Pasta is cool, toss pasta with beans and goat cheese in a large bowl, otherwise the cheese will melt.

                                          

Make dressing: In a bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar, and mustard and season with salt and pepper. (To store, refrigerate pasta mixture and dressing separately, up to 1 day.) To serve, toss pasta mixture with dressing, arugula, and onion