A delightful summer salad with fresh peas and herbs tossed with macaroni, preserved lemon and a variety of a few other tasty ingredients.
*See Kitchen Notes for more information.
Cook the macaroni while you prepare the other ingredients. Once the pasta is cooked, transfer to a large bowl and toss with a drizzle of olive oil.
To the cooked macaroni, add the remaining ingredients (except for the infused oil and vinegar).
Taste for salt and acid. You probably won't need to add any salt because of the salty ingredients, but you might. So salt to your taste.
Drizzle about 1 tablespoon of each infused oil and vinegar on the pasta. Taste. Add more if needed.
Serve immediately, let rest at room temperature for about an hour, or refrigerate and serve the next day. If you serve the next day, remove from the refrigerator about an hour before serving.
As this salad sits, the pasta does absorb the oil and vinegar, which can make it a little dry. Right before serving, drizzle a little more oil and vinegar on the salad and toss.
Fresh Herbs - My preference is about 1/2 cup mint and 2 - 3 more herbs such as lovage, tarragon, basil, chives, oregano or thyme to make up the other half cup. It really comes down to which herbs you prefer and what you have available fresh.
Sweet Peas - I use shelled sugar snaps peas (See picture and note below recipe). However, you could substitute with chopped snow peas, frozen peas or chopped, young broccoli. If you don't want the vegetables real crunchy, then blanch them or saute' them for about 60 seconds.
Preserved Lemon - I love this salad quite lemony, therefore, I use a lot of preserved lemon and lemon juice. If you want more of just a hint of lemons, then reduce by half. If you don't have preserved lemons, then use the juice and zest of 1 large lemon.
Herb Infused EVOO - My favorite is a dill infused EVOO, but any herb infused olive oil works.
Infused White Balsamic - There is no question that the best infused white balsamic is a type of lemon infused; however, a honey ginger also works. It you have neither, than just use a plain white balsamic.
Recipe author: MJ of MJ's Kitchen