on a pasta salad...

I thought I'd share my recent summer salad of choice. I made it for father's day and it went well with the usual barbecue. I recommend it for get-togetherswhere you want to bring or make something quick, easy and cool especially with these hot hot days. I know I've been trying to limit my use of the oven and so I jumped on this recipe like a monkey. Sorry that sounded better in my head. You get my gist.

First, you boil up your elbow pasta al dente. I always dip some olive oil into the water that you're boiling the noodles with so they don't stick. Not sure why but elbow pasta always stick if you're not stirring constantly. Once the pasta is on the verge of being all done plop the shrimp in the boiling water and cook until the shrimp is opaque throughout, about 30 minutes.

Drain pasta & shrimp in cold water and transfer into a large bowl.

Next, you take the roughly chopped dill and thinly sliced cucumber and toss it in with the pasta & shrimp. Like so..

In another bowl whisk together mayo, olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard and salt + pepper to your taste. Add the mixture to the pasta, mix well and serve! Easy peasy :) And there you have a perfect little pasta salad on a hot summer day.

Also, I like to mix the mayo mixture in a separate dish and wait to add it to the pasta until right before you serve it. I made this the night before and served it last Sunday on Father's Day. So I put the mayo mixture in my lovely Pyrex bowl and then must added it right before I served it with dinner. It tastes, I think, fresher and this way the mayo doesn't soak into the pasta and make it mushy. 

Try it out at your next barbecue. 4th of July is coming up. Give it a go!

Ingredients:

3/4 pound elbow pasta or large shell pasta

1 pound large peeled shrimp

1 cucumber, sliced thinly

1/2 cup, roughly chopped

2 tablespoons Mayo

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

♥A.