The concept of creating a dish or meal with five or six ingredients that happen to be in the fridge and pantry appeals greatly to me. It allows creative juices to flow; boredom is simply not an option for a chef. To elaborate further, I loved a recent comment from Chef Jamie Oliver, as he attempted to teach a family about the unending possibilities for using healthy ingredients. He was tossing up a salad and kept adding this and that, ultimately referring to the concoction as an "Evolving Salad". Love it!
So, here you have a pasta salad that I began about an hour ago:
1. Cook contents of a 13-oz box of Barilla Penne Whole Wheat Pasta till al dente
2. Drain... while hot, toss with about 1/4 cup of your best EVOO and a healthy squirt of Dijon mustard
3. Add lots of freshly ground pepper and the juice of 1 small or 1/2 large lemon
4. Snip in a fistful of garden chives... can't wait for my parsley to be ready, too
5. Add grated raw cabbage and carrots; slice in celery
6. Quarter 3 vine-ripened tomatoes and squeeze in juice from pulp; slice the remainder into salad
7. Slice or grate some cheese of your choice into mix
8. Substitute or add whatever ingredients you like, give it a toss, and eat warm or chilled
♥-Healthy...Buon Appetito!
