I recently read an article on slate about the (apparently) much-maligned pasta salad. (And I would malign it too, if it were covered in mayonnaise (I call that macaroni salad, as though there's a difference). I disagree with the author, however, when she contends that a vinagrette is always the wrong sort of dressing for a pasta salad. On the other hand, I'm willing to consider her advice that generally fewer ingredients are better and that vegetables should be roasted or otherwise treated before finding their way into the pasta salad.
That said, this particular pasta salad includes raw bell pepper, (and five total non pasta/dressing ingredients). We were inspired to experiment by the presence of sweet apple and maple syrup chicken sausage in the sausage case (we usually buy the roasted garlic ones). Note that these are the big hot dog sized sausages, which I don't typically associate with breakfast, so we decided to try a variation on our standard pasta salad using these sausages.
Sausage and Apple Pasta Salad
Ingredients:
1 box multicolored rotini
1 pkg (four sausages) apple and maple syrup chicken sausage
1/2 bag frozen corn
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 Granny Smith apple, chopped
4 oz. extra sharp cheddar cheese, cubed
olive oil
1 lemon
salt, pepper, herbs
Directions:
Cook rotini as directed on package. Corn may be added along with the rotini.
Meanwhile, grill or otherwise cook the sausages. Slice into 1/4 inch thick circular pieces.
Drain rotini-corn mixture and rinse with cool water.
In a large bowl, assemble pasta, sausage, peppers, apples, and cheese. In a small dish, make dressing with juice of one lemon, olive oil (about the same amount), salt, pepper and herbs to taste (I used my Penzey's Country French Vinagrette mix which has little of everything in it). Coat pasta/veggie/meat/cheese mixture. Serve or cover and refrigerate.
Review:
I think it's generally good but I think I would prefer this same salad with a plainer type of sausage. This sausage is a little too sweet for me. Matt likes it the way it is.
