Description
This pasta salad is full of fresh spring flavors. It can be thrown together in no time making it a perfect week night meal. Leftovers pack well for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 lb asparagus (, woody stems removed and cut into 2 inch lengths)
- 16 oz . brown rice penne pasta
- 1/2 cup loosely packed fresh basil (, roughly chopped or torn)
- 2 cups loosely packed spinach
- For the dressing:
- Zest from one lemon
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup lemon juice ((from 1-2 lemons))
- 2 tablespoons minced tarragon
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Whisk together all of the dressing ingredients until combined. Set aside.
- Prepare an ice bath, which you'll need for cooking the asparagus, by filling a bowl with cold water and ice.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add a generous pinch of salt, 2-3 teaspoons, to the water. Once the water is boiling add in the asparagus. Cook for 1-2 minutes until the asparagus is cooked, but still slightly crisp. Remove the asparagus and plunge them immediately into the ice bath. Let sit in the ice bath for 5 minutes then drain and pat dry.
- Add the pasta into the boiling water (I use the same water that I cooked the asparagus in) and cook according to package directions. Strain pasta and immediately rinse with cold water to cool the noodles down.
- Combine the asparagus, noodles, basil, spinach and dressing. Toss to combine and serve.