Last Friday we had the most beautiful day. After being in the fifties or lower for the past week, Friday it jumped right up to near eighty, and it was wonderful. There is nothing like that first summery day, when the kids get out the shorts and tank tops for the first time, and Zander runs around the yard in bare feet, and I can luxuriate by sitting on the back porch with bare feet, a beverage and a book, just soaking up the sunshine. Knowing that it was going to be such a wonderful day, I’d planned a salad dinner, to keep the active cook time down to a minimum so we could enjoy the nice weather while it lasted. (Which ended up being shortly after the sun went down.) I was already going to make a tossed lettuce salad- the kids just can’t get enough salad these days, especially one made with a combination of romaine and spinach- but I needed a main course salad, and turned to a vegetarian cookbook for a solution.
I found a simple tortellini salad in Vegetarian Express by Nava Atlas. I like this book sometimes. The problem with the book is that it takes many shortcuts that I don’t want to take. It’s basically a vegetarian version of 30 minute meals, but sometimes she calls for things like prechopped veggies or cans of this or that. I generally just then adapt the recipe to suit my needs, and overall most turn out good, not great, but good enough for quick dinners. This salad was another one of those goods, which was sad, because it could have been great! The combination of ingredients was really good, and I’ll use that again, but the dressing for the salad was really blah and boring. I should have went with my instincts when I first tasted the dressing, but I thought that maybe adding the Parmesan cheese would bump it up and it would be okay.
The Parmesan Cheese didn’t help. So I’m not sharing the whole recipe with you today, just the combination of ingredients. My suggestion? Use an amazing homemade or store bought balsamic or red wine vinaigrette that you love. This salad used frozen Cheese Tortellini, cooked and run under cold water to chill, frozen peas, thawed, and broccoli, steamed just until barely tender. Then some bottled roasted red peppers are chopped and added, along with dressing and a handful of Parmesan cheese. I loved the combination of veggies and tortellini, and visually, this one was a stunner, but the dressing… let’s just say that bottled roasted red pepper juice is not a good ingredient for a vinaigrette. So make this salad, add your own dressing, and be happy, because tortellini cooks in less than five minutes, and all told, this comes together completely in less than fifteen. It would multiply so easy for feeding a crowd too, so consider this combination for your summer entertaining.
