I've blogged about my pasta salad before. Not to toot my own horn, but that pasta salad is pretty darn delicious. I've brought it to countless potlucks, cookouts, and parties, and it's always a hit.
That being said, it is a pasta salad. Pasta salads are usually something I crave in the summer time, not the dead of winter. But for some reason, I had a hankering for pasta salad the other day.
Now, my pasta salad recipe is not complicated: it's basically just pasta, fresh veggies, canned chickpeas, and a dressing made of Vegenaise, Italian dressing, salt, pepper, dried dill, and dijon mustard. Pretty basic stuff.
Until you realize:
You have no Italian dressing.
You only have a couple of tablespoons of Vegenaise.
You don't have the required veggies.
Hmmm.
I would not be deterred. And I sure as heck wasn't making a trip to the grocery store!
No bell pepper? No problem...I just used some jarred roasted red pepper.
Not enough tomato or celery? No problem...I just used what I had. I added extra cucumber to make up for it.
No dressing? No biggie...I just made a batch of the Mediterranean Olive Oil and Lemon Vinaigrette from Veganomicon. I mixed this dressing with the last bit of Vegenaise and dijon mustard. Worked like a charm!
I mixed everything together and then served it on a big bed of baby arugula for some extra greens.
I love it when an experiment turns out well!
1 comment:
Gotta love a dish flexible enough that it can accommodate any veggies and flavorings! Really, the only mandatory element is pasta, and even that can be messed around with if you're in a tight situation. I've found that cooked barley can often make for a nice change of pace in my favorite pasta salad recipes.
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