Cooking: Asian Pasta Salad (Recipe)

Usually in the summertime I cook a lot and experiment  a bit and end up posting some recipes.... Not so much this year. It must be all the running around I'm doing. When dinnertime arrives lately I am usually surprised at the time (checked the clock because the girls have opened all the kitchen cabinets hunting for snacks) and don't have a real plan. Must improve....

So I did manage to muster some cooking energy a few days ago and came up with a pasta salad. An Asian pasta salad. I love this combination of soy and ginger and sesame oil and rice vinegar in the dressing, as well as all the crunchy veggies. It would be really great with teriyaki marinated and grilled chicken or marinated and grilled flank steak--on the side or sliced and combined with the pasta.

Sound good to you? Click through for the recipe.

ASIAN PASTA SALAD

Dressing:

3/4 cup soy sauce

4 teaspoons grated ginger

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 tablespoons sesame oil

6 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

2 teaspoons sweet chili sauce

1/4 cup canola oil

Combine all ingredients in a blender and emulsify.

Pasta:

2 lbs bow tie pasta (cooked and drained)

1 yellow bell pepper (sliced lengthwise and cut into 1" pieces)

1 red bell pepper (sliced lengthwise and cut into 1" pieces)

8 ounces baby corn (cut into smaller pieces if desired)

6 ounces snow peas (cut in half if desired)

3 scallions (trimmed and sliced thinly; white and green parts)

1 teaspoon black sesame seeds

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Add dressing to taste (you may or may not use all of it). Toss and enjoy. (As I mentioned above you might want to pair this with marinated and grilled chicken or flank steak. Yum!)