**The Art of Making a Delicious Pasta Salad**

So if you want to do that I will not hold that against you and for the exact measurements as well as step-by-step photos and tips and substitutions for this recipe you can find all of that on my blog at rainbowplantlife.com I've linked it in the description box below this video.

**Our Water is Almost Boiling**

Our water is almost at a boil so let's talk pasta real quick. You can use any short or medium sized pasta that has some ridges some nooks and crannies so the sauce can get in there. I'm using fusilli but you could also do something like rotini or penne. Ricotta is another ingredient we'll be adding to our salad later.

**Seasoning the Pasta Water**

Before we add the pasta to the water we have to first generously season the water with some kosher salt don't worry it's not going to taste like a salty pasta we're going to rinse off most of the salt at the end instead it's going to infuse each bite of pasta with flavors. You have a well-seasoned but not salty pasta when I'm making a hot pasta dish I cook the pasta until it's just al dente so it doesn't overcook but we're making a pasta salad and serving it chilled or at room temperature so it's a bit different because as pasta cools it tends to harden so if we were to cook it until it was just al dente for the pasta salad it would be a little bit dry. So instead we're going to cook it a couple of minutes after the package time says it'll be done and we'll end up with pasta that is moist and soft.

**While the Pasta is Cooking, Let's Make Our Topping**

While the pasta is cooking we're going to make our topping so get those breadcrumbs that we reserved from earlier and the lemon zest we also made or we didn't make it we just zested it. You can't make lemon zest anyways add your lemon zest and for a lot of freshness we're going to chop up a good amount of basil and flat leaf parsley we're using a pound of pasta so we want to make sure we're using a lot of herbs so that we have lots of fresh bright flavor. You can kind of think of this topping as a hybrid between gremolata and a breadcrumb topping it's fresh it's fun and it's going to make the pasta even better.

**The Toppings We'll be Using**

For some bright zippy tangy flavor we're going to add some capers we're going to do three tablespoons but first we'll drain them and if you don't have capers or if you have olives at home instead you could use green olives. A little cooking tip don't throw away the brine that the capers come in it's really great in sauces dressings marinades anytime you want something tangy and sharp. Finally just a little more red pepper flakes i promise it's not going to be spicy.

**Assembling Our Pasta Salad**

Finally let's drain the pasta but before you do make sure to scoop out about a cup of the pasta water for the sauce we're going to rinse it under cool water this helps keep the pasta separate instead of clumping together and it also brings the pasta to room temperature quickly. Before we assemble everything though let's talk mix-ins i like to add some greens for a little nutrition boost i've got three big handfuls of arugula you could also use baby spinach.

**Mixing in Our Toppings**

Another mixing option I had one leftover bell pepper from that jar the sauce only needs a 12 ounce jar mine was 16 ounces so i'm going to finally chop this up it's going to be really nice in the pasta salad. If you have some really good in-season summer tomatoes you could finely chop those and add them in here if you want to add a protein source some canned white beans would also be a good option.

**The Finishing Touches**

It's time to mix everything together oops little sneak peek get all of it since our sauce is quite thick we're going to add some of the pasta water to help the sauce cling to the pasta i'm gonna start with a half cup toss it and then we'll add more if needed yeah we definitely want some more pasta water so let's get that in there. Oh can you hear it right before serving you'll add the topping it's time to eat yes the sauce is so amazing and flavorful it's creamy it's indulgent but it doesn't feel heavy.

**Our Pasta Salad is Complete**

Definitely perfect for summer and definitely not your typical pasta salad in the best way possible. If you're in the mood for even more salads that aren't really salads I've got a short playlist for you right here thanks for watching bye

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: entoday i'm going to show you how to make an incredible pasta salad at home perfectly cooked pasta gets tossed in an unbelievable roasted red pepper sauce lots of fresh herbs and a crispy zesty topping your standard pasta salad is how shall i say this basic it's just pasta raw vegetables and a vinaigrette style dressing there's nothing wrong with it but it's also nothing special i mean think about it have you ever come home from a barbecue and told your spouse man your mom's pasta salad was so good what was that red wine vinaigrette gotta get that recipe no you have it because it's basic so today we're gonna give pasta salad the respect it deserves the first thing we'll do is heat up the water for our pasta we're cooking a pound of pasta so you need a fair amount of water about four quarts while the water's heating up we'll get started on our sauce it's a loose interpretation of a romesco sauce which is a rich smoky spanish sauce that's so good two of the main ingredients in this sauce are walnuts we need a cup of those and some bread a good quality bread something from your local bakery or the bakery section of the grocery store sourdough baguette country bread adorable little bowl like this if you have one and you want to slice up about five ounces of the bread we're gonna toast both the bread slices and the walnuts on the sheet pan in the oven at 350 degrees fahrenheit for about 10 minutes until the bread has dried out a bit and the walnuts are toasty and golden brown and you'll flip both of those halfway through we're gonna take our toasted bread and break it up into smaller pieces put it in your food processor we're going to make some bread crumbs the reason i'm breaking it up is because if you just added the big slices in there all at once it would be hard for the motor to blend everything uniformly broccoli we're going to use the pulse function to make bread crumbs you don't want to blend it continuously because you'll get a lot of fine crumbs and you'll lose some of that nice texture and if your food processor is on the smaller side you want to do this in two batches all right i'm going to show you what the bread crumbs look like so you have an idea of what the texture should be the bread crumbs are going to make this pasta great in two different ways first we'll use half of the bread crumbs in the sauce itself it'll naturally thicken it up kind of like a romesco traditionally would the other half of the breadcrumbs we will keep separate for the end for our crispy topping now that our bread is done we're just going to add the rest of the ingredients to the food processor for the sauce it's actually quite simple so we're going to grab our toasted walnuts and the walnuts along with the bread crumbs are going to thicken the sauce really nicely got a couple of chopped garlic cloves a teaspoon of red pepper flakes for a little heat and of course some salt and pepper to season is everything coming up i think i might need to loosen this later there are three ingredients i want to highlight in the sauce before we finish it off first jarred roasted red bell peppers these make the sauce so good they add this velvety body and a subtle smoky sweetness would it be even better if you charred or broiled your own fresh bell peppers probably but these are great super convenient and make the sauce very quick next up is smoked paprika romesco is typically smoky from the charred tomatoes and charred peppers so this is gonna add a nice pleasant smokiness without being overwhelming if you're a little cautious about the smoky flavor profile you could start slowly with a quarter teaspoon taste and add more but i really like it with a full teaspoon the third ingredient i want to highlight is a lemon but first we're going to zest it set that aside for the topping and we're going to add just the juice to the sauce it's going to cut through some of the richness from the walnuts and the olive oil as well as brighten everything up we're going to blend everything up in the food processor until it turns into a thick paste they'll stream in the extra virgin olive oil with the motor running until you get a sauce that's relatively smooth and really nice and thick time for a taste it's so good it's got this really nice body very voluptuous luxurious body from the walnuts and the breadcrumbs this nice mouthfeel from the olive oil this like smoky sweet depth of flavor from the roasted bell peppers and the smoked paprika and it would be really good to spread on toast so if you want to do that i will not hold that against you and for the exact measurements as well as step-by-step photos and tips and substitutions for this recipe you can find all of that on my blog at rainbowplantlife.com i've linked it in the description box below this video our water is almost at a boil so let's talk pasta real quick you can use any short or medium sized pasta that has some ridges some nooks and crannies so the sauce can get in there i'm using fusilli but you could also do something like rotini or penne ricotta but before we add the pasta to the water we have to first generously season the water with some kosher salt don't worry it's not going to taste like a salty pasta we're going to rinse off most the salt at the end instead it's going to infuse each bite of pasta with flavors you have a well-seasoned but not salty pasta when i'm making a hot pasta dish i cook the pasta until it's just al dente so it doesn't overcook but we're making a pasta salad and serving it chilled or at room temperature so it's a bit different because as pasta cools it tends to harden so if we were to cook it until it was just al dente for the pasta salad it would be a little bit dry so instead we're going to cook it a couple minutes after the package time says it'll be done and we'll end up with pasta that is moist and soft all right enough pasta talk while the pasta is cooking we're going to make our topping so get those breadcrumbs that we reserved from earlier and the lemon zest we also made or we didn't make it we just zested it you can't make lemon zest anyways add your lemon zest and for a lot of freshness we're going to chop up a good amount of basil and flat leaf parsley we're using a pound of pasta so we want to make sure we're using a lot of herbs so that we have lots of fresh bright flavor you can kind of think of this topping as a hybrid between gremolata and a breadcrumb topping it's fresh it's fun and it's going to make the pasta even better and for the parsley you want to get rid of any thick stems at the bottom those can be a little bitter depending on the bunch you have and just use the leaves and tender stems now for some bright zippy tangy flavor we're going to add some capers we're going to do three tablespoons but first we'll drain them and if you don't have capers or if you have olives at home instead you could use green olives and we'll just give these capers a chop as an aside a little cooking tip don't throw away the brine that the capers come in it's really great in sauces dressings marinades anytime you want something tangy and sharp finally just a little more red pepper flakes i promise it's not going to be spicy and some flaky sea salt it's time to drain the pasta but before you do make sure to scoop out about a cup of the pasta water for the sauce we're going to rinse it under cool water this helps keep the pasta separate instead of clumping together and it also brings the pasta to room temperature quickly before we assemble everything though let's talk mix-ins i like to add some greens for a little nutrition boost i've got i don't know three big handfuls of arugula you could also use baby spinach i don't like big pieces in my pasta so i'm gonna chop it up another mixing option i had one leftover bell pepper from that jar the sauce only needs a 12 ounce jar mine was 16 ounces so i'm going to finally chop this up it's going to be really nice in the pasta salad i'll add it with the arugula if you have some really good in-season summer tomatoes you could finely chop those and add them in here if you want to add a protein source some canned white beans would also be a good option it's time to mix everything together oops little snook get all of it since our sauce is quite thick we're going to add some of the pasta water to help the sauce cling to the pasta i'm gonna start with a half cup toss it and then we'll add more if needed yeah we definitely want some more pasta water so let's get that in there oh can you hear it right before serving you'll add the topping it's time to eat yes the sauce is so amazing and flavorful it's creamy it's indulgent but it doesn't feel heavy definitely perfect for summer and definitely not your typical pasta salad in the best way possible if you're in the mood for even more salads that aren't really salads i've got a short playlist for you right here thanks for watching byetoday i'm going to show you how to make an incredible pasta salad at home perfectly cooked pasta gets tossed in an unbelievable roasted red pepper sauce lots of fresh herbs and a crispy zesty topping your standard pasta salad is how shall i say this basic it's just pasta raw vegetables and a vinaigrette style dressing there's nothing wrong with it but it's also nothing special i mean think about it have you ever come home from a barbecue and told your spouse man your mom's pasta salad was so good what was that red wine vinaigrette gotta get that recipe no you have it because it's basic so today we're gonna give pasta salad the respect it deserves the first thing we'll do is heat up the water for our pasta we're cooking a pound of pasta so you need a fair amount of water about four quarts while the water's heating up we'll get started on our sauce it's a loose interpretation of a romesco sauce which is a rich smoky spanish sauce that's so good two of the main ingredients in this sauce are walnuts we need a cup of those and some bread a good quality bread something from your local bakery or the bakery section of the grocery store sourdough baguette country bread adorable little bowl like this if you have one and you want to slice up about five ounces of the bread we're gonna toast both the bread slices and the walnuts on the sheet pan in the oven at 350 degrees fahrenheit for about 10 minutes until the bread has dried out a bit and the walnuts are toasty and golden brown and you'll flip both of those halfway through we're gonna take our toasted bread and break it up into smaller pieces put it in your food processor we're going to make some bread crumbs the reason i'm breaking it up is because if you just added the big slices in there all at once it would be hard for the motor to blend everything uniformly broccoli we're going to use the pulse function to make bread crumbs you don't want to blend it continuously because you'll get a lot of fine crumbs and you'll lose some of that nice texture and if your food processor is on the smaller side you want to do this in two batches all right i'm going to show you what the bread crumbs look like so you have an idea of what the texture should be the bread crumbs are going to make this pasta great in two different ways first we'll use half of the bread crumbs in the sauce itself it'll naturally thicken it up kind of like a romesco traditionally would the other half of the breadcrumbs we will keep separate for the end for our crispy topping now that our bread is done we're just going to add the rest of the ingredients to the food processor for the sauce it's actually quite simple so we're going to grab our toasted walnuts and the walnuts along with the bread crumbs are going to thicken the sauce really nicely got a couple of chopped garlic cloves a teaspoon of red pepper flakes for a little heat and of course some salt and pepper to season is everything coming up i think i might need to loosen this later there are three ingredients i want to highlight in the sauce before we finish it off first jarred roasted red bell peppers these make the sauce so good they add this velvety body and a subtle smoky sweetness would it be even better if you charred or broiled your own fresh bell peppers probably but these are great super convenient and make the sauce very quick next up is smoked paprika romesco is typically smoky from the charred tomatoes and charred peppers so this is gonna add a nice pleasant smokiness without being overwhelming if you're a little cautious about the smoky flavor profile you could start slowly with a quarter teaspoon taste and add more but i really like it with a full teaspoon the third ingredient i want to highlight is a lemon but first we're going to zest it set that aside for the topping and we're going to add just the juice to the sauce it's going to cut through some of the richness from the walnuts and the olive oil as well as brighten everything up we're going to blend everything up in the food processor until it turns into a thick paste they'll stream in the extra virgin olive oil with the motor running until you get a sauce that's relatively smooth and really nice and thick time for a taste it's so good it's got this really nice body very voluptuous luxurious body from the walnuts and the breadcrumbs this nice mouthfeel from the olive oil this like smoky sweet depth of flavor from the roasted bell peppers and the smoked paprika and it would be really good to spread on toast so if you want to do that i will not hold that against you and for the exact measurements as well as step-by-step photos and tips and substitutions for this recipe you can find all of that on my blog at rainbowplantlife.com i've linked it in the description box below this video our water is almost at a boil so let's talk pasta real quick you can use any short or medium sized pasta that has some ridges some nooks and crannies so the sauce can get in there i'm using fusilli but you could also do something like rotini or penne ricotta but before we add the pasta to the water we have to first generously season the water with some kosher salt don't worry it's not going to taste like a salty pasta we're going to rinse off most the salt at the end instead it's going to infuse each bite of pasta with flavors you have a well-seasoned but not salty pasta when i'm making a hot pasta dish i cook the pasta until it's just al dente so it doesn't overcook but we're making a pasta salad and serving it chilled or at room temperature so it's a bit different because as pasta cools it tends to harden so if we were to cook it until it was just al dente for the pasta salad it would be a little bit dry so instead we're going to cook it a couple minutes after the package time says it'll be done and we'll end up with pasta that is moist and soft all right enough pasta talk while the pasta is cooking we're going to make our topping so get those breadcrumbs that we reserved from earlier and the lemon zest we also made or we didn't make it we just zested it you can't make lemon zest anyways add your lemon zest and for a lot of freshness we're going to chop up a good amount of basil and flat leaf parsley we're using a pound of pasta so we want to make sure we're using a lot of herbs so that we have lots of fresh bright flavor you can kind of think of this topping as a hybrid between gremolata and a breadcrumb topping it's fresh it's fun and it's going to make the pasta even better and for the parsley you want to get rid of any thick stems at the bottom those can be a little bitter depending on the bunch you have and just use the leaves and tender stems now for some bright zippy tangy flavor we're going to add some capers we're going to do three tablespoons but first we'll drain them and if you don't have capers or if you have olives at home instead you could use green olives and we'll just give these capers a chop as an aside a little cooking tip don't throw away the brine that the capers come in it's really great in sauces dressings marinades anytime you want something tangy and sharp finally just a little more red pepper flakes i promise it's not going to be spicy and some flaky sea salt it's time to drain the pasta but before you do make sure to scoop out about a cup of the pasta water for the sauce we're going to rinse it under cool water this helps keep the pasta separate instead of clumping together and it also brings the pasta to room temperature quickly before we assemble everything though let's talk mix-ins i like to add some greens for a little nutrition boost i've got i don't know three big handfuls of arugula you could also use baby spinach i don't like big pieces in my pasta so i'm gonna chop it up another mixing option i had one leftover bell pepper from that jar the sauce only needs a 12 ounce jar mine was 16 ounces so i'm going to finally chop this up it's going to be really nice in the pasta salad i'll add it with the arugula if you have some really good in-season summer tomatoes you could finely chop those and add them in here if you want to add a protein source some canned white beans would also be a good option it's time to mix everything together oops little snook get all of it since our sauce is quite thick we're going to add some of the pasta water to help the sauce cling to the pasta i'm gonna start with a half cup toss it and then we'll add more if needed yeah we definitely want some more pasta water so let's get that in there oh can you hear it right before serving you'll add the topping it's time to eat yes the sauce is so amazing and flavorful it's creamy it's indulgent but it doesn't feel heavy definitely perfect for summer and definitely not your typical pasta salad in the best way possible if you're in the mood for even more salads that aren't really salads i've got a short playlist for you right here thanks for watching bye\n"