This pasta salad is made with “Perciatelli”, AKA “”. Sounds fancy, but what is it, right? It looks like a fat spaghetti noodle, but it has a tiny hole in the middle. Kind of like a very skinny straw. This gives it a great “chew”, in my opinion!
I love this salad. It doesn’t hurt that it also has grilled sweet potatoes in it, cooled off to build up their “resistant starch” (good stuff for our bods). And the grilled zucchini lightens it up some. Add a honey-mustard dressing, made from scratch, and it’s a treat! Perfect for potlucks and parties.
Serves 16 or so as a side
INGREDIENTS
- 1 lb. perciatelli pasta
- 3 zucchini (about 1 11/2 lb.)
- 3 sweet potatoes (about 1 11/2 lb.)
- One recipe Honey Mustard Dressing (see below)
Add uncooked noodles to boiling, salted water and cook on medium low heat for 11 minutes, or to taste: > 1 lb. perciatelli pasta
Add sweet potatoes to hot iron skillet, adding water almost to cover. Let them steam as the water boils away, for about 5 minutes. Use: > 3 sweet potatoes
Turn sweet potatoes over, adding another splash of water, and cook until tender. As water evaporates, add a drizzle of olive oil. Let cool when finished.
Grill: > 3 zucchini
Let pasta and veggies cool in a big bowl. Toss the cooled ingredients with one recipe Honey Mustard Dressing (about 1 cup).
Garnish the bowl of pasta salad with fresh herbs. And maybe a nasturtium flower!
Honey Mustard Dressing
We make our salad dressings from scratch at the deli, although we’ve never found time to make homemade mayonnaise. We just go through too much! So this dressing’s only made at home, for family and friends. It’s great on greens, and also, for the pasta salad recipe, above.
Makes just over a cup.
- 1 egg
- 3 TBS. Dijon mustard (.12)
- 2 tsp. vinegar, divided
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/3 c. olive oil (.185)
- 2 TBS. honey
- 1/8 tsp. orange extract
- 1/8 tsp. liquid smoke
- fresh tarragon and thyme
In small, narrow container, whip the following with immersion blender: > 1 egg > 3 TBS. Dijon mustard > 1 tsp. vinegar > 1/2 tsp. salt
Measure olive oil into a pouring cup, and very slowly, drizzle in a few tablespoons of the oil into the above mix
Once the first oil is emulsified into the mix, slowly add the rest, beating continually until all the oil is absorbed.
Add and blend until ingredients are mixed in.: > 2 TBS. honey > 1/8 tsp. orange extract > 1/8 tsp. liquid smoke > fresh tarragon and thyme > 1 tsp. vinegar
Use for green salads, or as the dressing for pasta salads.
Refrigerated, keeps one month.
