serves 6
The first warm and sunny day of the year had us getting into barbecue mode in no time. So Bene and I got our grill out and had our first outdoor dinner of the season. It is very common to have a pasta salad as a sidedish, so of course we had to make one. We ended up with a lot of spaghetti-salad and we were lucky that our friends and neighbours happily ate some of it too. The social distancing rules allowed us to have this barbecue with a pair of friends.
This pasta salad will surely be in our picnic basket the next time we go on a trip. It keeps fresh for quiet some time without needing to be chilled.
A vegan version can also be made with just one quick adjustment: Simply swap the feta cheese for a vegan alternative or add 4 tablespoons of nutritional yeast.
This early summer day really gave a boost to our veggies on our roof top garden. We now have a small forest of radish.
Ingredients
- 500g spaghetti
- 500g fresh spinach
- 1/2 bunch of parsley
- 1 cucumber
- 8 radish
- 125g green lentils
- 150g feta cheese
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- zest of 1/2 lemon
- salt
- pepper
- olive oil
- balsamic vinegar
- oregano
Preparations
- Start by cooking the spaghetti, lentils and spinach in separate pots until tender.
- The lentils will take definetly take longest (about 30 minutes), so its best to give them a little head start.
- Pour off any left over water and let the cooked ingredients drain in a sieve for a moment.
- Next pour the spaghetti into a bowl and add 1 tbls of olive oil. This helps to keep the spaghettis from forming one big clump while cooling down.
- Cut the spaghettis into bite sized bits and mix them with the lentis and spinach.
- Chop the cucumber, radish and feta cheese into small cubes and add them to the cooled down ingredients. Don’t mix the feta in too early or it will just melt – which is also pretty delicious.
- As a dressing mix the lemon juice and zest with 6 tbls of olive oil and 6 tbls of balsamic vinegar.
- Add salt, pepper and oregano to taste and mix the dressing with the salad.
We hope you enjoy this pre-taste of summer.
Mirja and Bene