| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 35 min |
| Prep: | 15 min |
| Inactive: | 10 min |
| Cook: | 10 min |
| Yield: | 6 to 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 clove garlic, grated
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced
- Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
- 12 ounces cavatappi pasta, cooked to package instructions and shocked under cold water
- 4 ounces asparagus, blanched and thinly sliced on the bias
- 1 box frozen peas, defrosted
- One 12-ounce jar roasted yellow peppers, chopped
- 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
- 1 shallot, minced
- 1/2 cup fresh dill, chopped
- Ricotta salata, for garnish
Instructions
- For the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, Dijon mustard, honey, garlic, lemon zest and juice, and season with salt and pepper.
- For the pasta: Toss the pasta with the asparagus, peas, roasted peppers, tomatoes, shallots and dill. Pour the dressing over the salad, tossing to coat. Let the salad hang out for a bit to soak up all of the flavor.
- When ready to serve, bowl it up and shave some ricotta salata over the top to seal the deal.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 8 servings |
| Calories | 300 |
| Total Fat | 10 g |
| Saturated Fat | 1 g |
| Carbohydrates | 45 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Sugar | 6 g |
| Protein | 9 g |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg |
| Sodium | 463 mg |
Reviews
I love all of Jeff’s recipe on food network, however it doesn’t allow me to print them. Very frustrating as sometimes my husband likes to make this recipe but he likes to have in hand.
Thanks Marie
Thanks Marie
I made this for a Memorial day get together. I chose it for the dressing recipe and added my own ingredients to the salad. Very, very bland for a pasta salad. Maybe my ingredients of black olives, heirloom tomatoes, English cucumber and shredded parm didn’t mix well with it and following the recipe gives more flavor? I even tried to doctor it up a bit at the party to no avail. I probably won’t make again though.
I have made this a few times now, it is usually a crowd pleaser.
A few thoughts: it takes a long time to prep. 15 minutes is definitely an understatement…more like 45 minutes to an hour. Be careful not to shave off the pith of the lemon peel when zesting as it can make the whole dish a little bitter. Asparagus takes very little time to blanch, maybe 2-3 minutes, so be careful not to overcook and lose the brightness of your dish.
I added lemon pepper marinated shrimp to mine and it was a good combo.
This dish is beautiful and refreshing, but the strong notes of garlic and shallot afterwards will have you remembering it for a while.
It wasn’t bad. It’s really only good for the first day. I swapped the asparagus for green beans. I don’t like asparagus…I made it for Easter dinner but no one really liked it too much.
This tastes amazing!!
I had this at a party, and it has been my favorite pasta salad recipe ever since.
I tried a new variation last night to make it into more of a dinner entree – I left off the ricotta and topped it instead with oven-baked salmon. It amazing.
I can make it for a picnic.
This is was so delicious!! Made just a couple of changes. Added mint along with the dill. Added a handful of pitted kalamata olives and omitted the roasted peppers(didn’t feel right texturally). Also added bocconcini and feta as the cheeses. A huge hit. Thank you
I recently made this salad and it was a hit with my family. I made a couple of minor changes. I roasted my own pepper; peeled and cut it. My husband does not like peas much but he does like fresh peas so I bought some English peas. I added the fresh peas and asparagus at the same time and that seem to work perfectly. I kept in mind the ratios Jeff said for the salad dressing; one part lemon juice to 3 parts olive oil and that worked. I would make this again.
Made this yesterday. Not inedible at first but not something I really enjoyed (one bite would be good and the next I couldn’t tell if I liked it or not?) so I had to make some additions to ~sort of~ fix it. I had to amp up the oil because the lemon was way too strong, and then I added some red wine vinegar to cut the oil. Since I ended up doctoring it so much (and it still isn’t perfect) I’ll probably end up following a different recipe for this sort of pasta salad. Not my favorite.