Spring garden pasta salad

How to make Spring garden pasta salad recipe

Serves 4

Preparation time 10 minutes, plus cooling, Cooking time 10 minutes

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
finely grated rind and juice of ½ lemon
6 spring onions, thinly sliced
175 g (6 oz) dried fusilli
150 g (5 oz) asparagus tips, cut into 2.5 cm (1 inch) pieces
150 g (5 oz) green beans, trimmed and cut into 2.5 cm (1 inch) pieces
50g (2 oz) fresh or frozen peas
1 buffalo mozzarella cheese ball, drained and torn into small pieces
50 g (2 oz) watercress
2 tablespoons roughly chopped parsley
2 tablespoons snipped chives
8 basil leaves, torn
salt and pepper

Method:
Mix the oil, garlic, lemon rind and juice and spring onions together in a large, non-metallic serving bowl and leave to infuse while you cook the pasta.

Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of salted boiling water according to the packet instructions until al dente, adding the asparagus, beans and peas 3 minutes before the end of the cooking time.

Drain the pasta and vegetables lightly, then stir into the prepared dressing. Set aside in a cool place until cooled to room temperature.

Stir the remaining ingredients into the pasta salad. Season with salt and pepper, then leave the dish to stand for at least 5 minutes for the flavours to mingle before serving.

For sugar snap pea & broad bean salad, make the dressing and cook the pasta as above, replacing the asparagus tips with 150 g (5 oz) sugar snap peas and the green beans with 150 g (5 oz) broad beans.

Cut the sugar snap peas in half and add them, together with the beans, to the pan 3–5 minutes before the end of the pasta cooking time. Replace the watercress with 50 g (2 oz) rocket.

Spring garden pasta salad