Let me tell you something about the most discussed topic in the Netherlands: our weather! In Spring, there is nothing I love more than those early sunny days, when everything is still cold but you start to feel the heat of the sun. In Holland, those days are the best; people are smiling, some already wearing shorts, others still in their winter coats. You know spring is there when everyone gets outside, brave the chilling temperatures, and all the terraces start filling up with people ordering their first outside drink, sometimes even wrapped in blankets. Love those days!
And then there is our lovely summer.. in my opinion less magical than our spring but I can’t deny that I really love those sunny days and warmer temperature of our summer. Although it can also be very windy, and sometimes there is even a lot of rain involved.. But we can have heat waves as well, and living in a city makes it suffocating hot. During those hot summer days my appetite goes from ‘thinking about dinner when eating breakfast’ to ‘mehh can’t be bothered’! All I want during those hot days is something easy, healthy, and refreshing. With this tasty cold summer pasta salad you can have the best of those worlds.
This summer pasta salad is the perfect dish to take with you to summer barbecues, outdoor picnics, and get-togethers with friends in the park or on the beach. It’s easy, quick to prepare, and smells amazing!
You can turn this summer pasta salad easily into a vegetarian pasta by replacing the smoked chicken with some crumbled goat cheese or feta. And if you don’t like strawberries, just replace them with some grilled peach.
How do you survive those hot summer days? Let me know!
Summer pasta salad
Beat the heat with this delicious summer pasta salad. Perfect dish for a bbq, great for a outdoor picnic, or for a get-together with friends! With fresh strawberries, green asparagus, and smoked chicken it's a refreshing and filling summer pasta salad! Yumm!
Ingredients
- 250 g strawberries
- 150 g green asparagus tips
- 250 g fusilli (or other pasta kind you like)
- 200 g smoked chicken fillet
- 1 avocado
- 1 cucumber
- 50 g rocket
- 50 g lamb's lettuce
- 1 garlic clove, minced.
- 1/2 lemon
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1/2 teaspoon white wine vinegar
- olive oil
- salt & pepper
Directions
- Step 1 Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil and drop in your green asparagus. Cook for 3 minutes or until just soft. Lift them out with a slotted spoon, rince them with cold water, and drain.
- Step 2 Add the pasta to the water and cook according to packet instructions. Serve it al dente, this means the pasta is just cooked, but still has a little bite. Drain in a colander and rinse under cold water until cool.
- Step 3 Cut the strawberries in halve, or depending on the size, in quarters. Remove the pit from the avocado and cut it into little cubes, cut the cucumber into little cubes of about 1 cm. Slice the smoked chicken into little pieces.
- Step 4 For the dressing: squeeze the lemon juice into a big mixing bowl and add three times the amount of olive oil. Add the minced garlic, honey, and white wine vinegar. Season with salt and pepper.
- Step 5 Drop the strawberries, cooked green asparagus, pasta, avocado, cucumber, smocked chicken, rocket, and lamb’s lettuce into the dressing and toss until everything’s mixed together. Serve the salad in a large salad bowl. Enjoy!
