Lola’s Kitchen: Pasta Salad with Pesto Recipe

Lola’s Kitchen is a feature on Lola’s Reviews where I talk about all things related to food, cooking and baking. These usually are recipe posts or more discussion type posts about food. I love cooking and spend some time in the kitchen almost every day, so I wanted to give it a place on my blog as well. The banner for this feature is designed by Michelle from Limabean Designs.

My boyfriend is a big fan of salads, so once in a while we like to try a new salad recipe. This recipe is loosely based on a storebought salad we once had. It’s a pasta salad with a pesto based dressing.

Ingredients

For the salad:

• Pasta (I used fusilli) – 180 gram/ 2 cups
• Cherry tomatoes – 250 gram/ 1 1/3 cup
• Olives – a few spoonfuls
• Italian spiced chicken (already baked, steamed or cooked) – 150 gram
• Cucumber – 1
• Pine nuts – a few tablespoons

For the pesto dressing:

• Pesto – 3 teaspoon
• Garlic – 2 gloves
• Vinegar – 1 1/2 tablespoon
• Olive Oil – 45 ml/ 1/6 cup
• White pepper – 1/2 teaspoon

Method

1. First start boiling the pasta for 9 minutes or follow the directions of the package.
2. In the meantime cut the cucumber in slices and remove the juicy inside bit. Put the cucumber in a large bowl.
3. Cut the chicken into smaller pieces if necessary and add to the bowl as well. Slice the olives into smaller pieces and add to the bowl.
4. Now assemble the dressing. Scoop de pesto, vinegar and oil into a bowl and mix to combine. Add some freshly ground black pepper and press the garlic gloves using a garlic press and add as well.
5. Slice the cherry tomatoes and set aside.
6. Once the pasta is done boiling, add it to the bowl and stir well. Now add the dressing and stir well.
7. Lastly add the pine nuts and cherry tomatoes and then you can eat the salad.

What’s your favorite type of salad to eat?