Rotini Pasta Salad

Serves 2

Pasta? That’s not a common ingredient in my kitchen. Certainly not typical white flour pasta. But we live in a day of healthy alternatives. The secret ingredient in this recipe is chickpea rotini, which has double the protein and half the carbs of white flour pasta. Add in the other proteins here and you’ve got a real meal, not something that will crash your blood sugar an hour later.

Ingredients

• 2 TBS basil, chopped
• 2 TBS roasted pine nuts
• 2 TBS parmesan, coarsely grated
• ½ cup green onion, sliced into bits
• 2 oz pepperoni slices, chopped
• ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 4 TBS olive oil
• 4 oz chickpea pasta, rotini noodles
• 1 TBS salt

Directions

1. In a large pot or stock pot, bring 4 quarts of water to a boil. While you’re waiting…
2. Combine all the ingredients, except the pasta and tablespoon of salt, in a medium bowl. Place the bowl in the refrigerator.
3. Once the water is boiling, add the rotini and tablespoon of salt. Boil for 6-8 minutes.
4. Drain the water from the pasta (do not rinse) and combine the pasta into the chilled bowl with the other ingredients. Blend and serve.

Notes

• The recipe as is, is pretty level in flavor across all the ingredients. Bump up a portion of one or two items if you want to push it in a certain direction.
• You can use a different kind of pasta if you like, the rotini is just easy to fork along with the other ingredients.
• Other items can be swapped out. Shrimp, chicken, or sausage instead of pepperoni – yum! Curled leaf or flat parsley instead of basil – put that patio garden to work!

Sussie Hamacher/September 2020