To start, I put some pasta water on the stove to boil. Although I had some penne on hand, I decided to use some of these beautiful dry orecchiette pasta that I picked up at Savenor's earlier in the week. I find orecchiette so adorable in their resemblance of small ears and hope to someday learn to make them myself!
While my pasta was cooking, I prepared the other ingredients. Bret helped me out by shucking some fava beans from their pods. We had about half a dozen pods on hand but it didn't yield a lot of fava beans. I'll definitely have to grab more the next time I make this dish.
I also washed and halved about half a carton of large cherry tomatoes.
And I also cubed some leftover feta cheese from my watermelon and feta bites that I made this past weekend.
When the pasta was done cooking, I drained it and gave it a quick rinse in cold water. I put the fava beans in the already boiling pasta water. The fava beans took only a few minutes to cook and I also gave them a quick rinse when they were done.
I put all the ingredients in a large bowl along with the final (and perhaps most important) ingredient - homemade pesto. I made the pesto the previous weekend since I had a lot of leftover basil. I made a simple pesto with basil, walnuts, parmesan cheese, olive oil, salt and pepper.
The pesto orecchiette salad mad a perfect side dish to my pan-seared chicken breast (marinated in soy sauce, vegetable oil and Mongolian ginger BBQ rub) with sauteed greens (broccoli rabe, black beans, onions and red Russian garlic).
I loved all of the fresh flavors in the pesto and feta orecchiette salad and it was absolutely perfect for summer. Best of all, there were lots leftover, which I'm looking forward to nibbling on during the rest of the week.
What kind of food do you crave after a long, stressful day?
19 comments:
That looks so fresh and delicious!! So many of my favorite things in one place :) I think pesto, tomatoes, and pasta were just meant for each other... and some extra cheese doesn't hurt, haha.
I crave wine, LOL - pasta dish looks so good
Pasta is great and easy to make after a long stressful day. I love grilling a piece of fish and drinking a glass of wine. Tends to calm my nerves :-)
Holy yum! I make almost the exact same pasta salad with whole wheat rotini. Delish!
what a delightful meal! i love the addition of black beans to your greens and the feta w/ the pesto pasta salad! two things i would never think of adding! thanks for sharing!
Ha... this is my favorite dinner during the summer... and I have no self-restraint!
Maybe we can find an orecchiette-making class!
This dish looks so tasty! And after a long, stressful day I also crave carbs - or cheesy, greasy food like nachos or quesadillas. A giant glass of wine never hurts either after a bad day! ;)
So pretty and colorful. Another point for carbs after a long day! I always crave pasta or grilled cheese sandwiches when I'm stressed!
wowzers, that looks PHENOMENAL. and with a big ole glass of wine. yum yum yum yum yum!
Right there with you with the orecchiette. When I was little my great grandmother used to make them. She called them little hats. I made them, once. They ... sort of looked ... like ... hats?
I agree pasta is the ultimate comfort. And ditto on the red wine.
What a beautiful pasta salad. Orecchiette salad is perfect for our hot summers down here. Simply delicious!
Looks delish - I'm making pesto this weekend b/c our pot of herbs (love city gardens!) is overgrown with basil! Great idea for a summer dish!
I love that you used all the fresh ingredients! Looks fabulous!
I love the cute orecchiette too. Pesto, pasta, feta - 3 of my favorite things in 1 dish! Hope you have a great weekend ahead!
ooh, i learned how to make orichette in italy :) so fun! this dish looks great, too!
your dishes never cease to amaze. YUM. I had a particularly draining day at work this week too! I generally crave hard alcohol, and anything cooked by anyone else. ;)
If and when you decide to venture to Neptune Oyster, let me know! I'll totally go with and we can drink beer and slurp oysters.
YUM! I love all of the flavors, and I agree, that would be perfect for lunch. I crave spicy foods pretty much all the time, but when I am stressed or not feeling well, eating something really spicy just makes me feel better. Maybe the endorphins? :)
This pasta salad looks AMAZINGGGGGGGGGGG. Definitely want to try this recipe.
Ooh, what fancy pasta! The whole meal looks absolutely fabulous. The perfect cure for a draining week, I'm sure.
I'm with you, I love a big bowl of pasta...with cheese!
=)
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