I’m more of a summer person than a winter person. Or so I thought, till I got baked in the sun the past couple of days. The heat has been unbearable. I have the fan on full speed at home and there’s still no respite. Being Bangalorean, I always think I don’t need an AC in our pleasant city. Boy, am I wrong! The only time I’m happy these days, is when I’m in the car and I have the AC on full blast in my face or when am under a cold shower! Which leads me to change my earlier notion of what weather person I am – I am an opti-weather person. I don’t like it too hot or too cold, too dry or too rainy, too windy or too still! I’m not fussy, but that’s the weather I would like. If wishes were horses, right? But I still concede that when it comes to satisfying my weather requirement, no other city in the world gets it as close to perfect as Bangalore. It’s almost like my genes have adapted to the city of my birth and the thermostat has been set to ‘comfortable’. Speaking of comfortable, I went to my old hangout Infinitea last week. Lazing around on their sofa’s, ordering a pomegranate ice tea and summer pasta salad and chatting with the girls. Can’t get more comfortable than that! I adore their version of the summer pasta salad (which is more of a main course in my opinion) and tried to replicate it at home. Results? A very comfortable match!
Summer Pasta Salad
Prep time: 30 mins
Cooking time: 15 mins
Serves: 4
What you need:
350 gms Penne
3 Peppers (1 red, 1 yellow, 1 green), finely chopped
1 small Onion, finely chopped
6 cloves of garlic, minced
3/4 cup Corn Kernals
100 gms Mushrooms, finely chopped
1 Tbsp chopped Jalapenos
1 Tbsp chopped Sun dried tomatoes in oil
2 Tbsp chopped Green and Black Olives
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Butter
200 ml Cream
Salt and freshly ground black Pepper
To garnish:
Grated Cheddar Cheese
Mixed Herbs
What to do:
Julienne the peppers and then chop them up into tiny pieces. Ensure that the onions and mushrooms are also chopped to roughly the same size. Try to cut up the olives, jalapenoes and sun dried tomatoes to the same size as well. In the meantime, boil the corn and set aside.(I used the microwave).
In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil and toss in the butter. When the butter sizzles, lower the heat and add the onions. Saute for 2 mins till it gets soft. Raise the heat. Then add the garlic and the mushrooms and saute for another minute. Toss in the peppers, saute for 3 mins. Finally add the corn, stir to combine.
Now lower the heat and add the cream. Cook for a minute and toss in the jalapenoes, sun dried tomatoes and olives. Season with salt and pepper. Mix to combine and Turn off the heat.
Spoon the pasta into a serving dish. (it helps if its microwave friendly). Now toss the grated cheese on top and heat for 30 secs in the microwave till the cheese is melty. Season with mixed herbs and serve!
P.S. You could add in the juice of 1 lemon in the final stage of seasoning to make it more tangy.
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Yup very simple. But I was wondering as an afterthought, should I have added the juice of 1 lemon – to make it more tangy? Next time i'll try that. But how will lemon juice respond to microwaving? Need to experiment.
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oooo yummy swap….cant wait to try it…
I knew the dressing was just cream…cream just makes anything more yum…
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