Lemon Mustard Pasta Salad

One of my favorite recipes to bring to get-togethers and family gatherings is my lemon mustard pasta salad. I make it often for side dishes for dinner, and its just a light and delicious pasta salad. It's citrus-y, sweet, salty, soft, and crunchy all at the same time!

You can make substitutions and additions. Some people like olives or capers in their pasta salads, some people hate onions, etc.

It's very easy to make - it probably takes about 20 minutes to finish and about an hour to chill in the fridge.




Ingredients:

Pasta
8 to 12 oz of pasta. I used tri-colored rotini pasta.
Pinch of salt
2-3 stalks of celery
1 green bell pepper
1 small onion or 1/2 medium onion
10-15 cherry tomatoes, or how ever many you want.

I did not add the zucchini. I thought it was a cucumber. Whoops!

Lemon Dressing
1/2 lemon or 1-2 tbsp lemon juice
Pinch of salt
1 tsp yellow or dijon mustard
1-2 tbsp mayonaise or greek yogurt
2 tbsp olive oil (or oil of choice)
1 tsp honey
1/8 tsp dill weed

(Not pictured - Honey) (And the alcohol bottle is homemade olive oil)

Directions

Cook pasta as directed. Make sure you salt the pasta water before you cook it in it. Set aside to cool. You want the pasta to be al-dente.

Chop up celery, onion, tomatoes and bell pepper.

HINT: I have a special way to cut bell peppers that you may have seen before. All you do is cut around the core until all you have is the core and the flesh separated. Then you throw away the core and cut up the flesh. Here is a picture of what's the result.

Next, you need to make the lemon dressing. Juice the lemon, add the mayonnaise, mustard, dill and honey. Stir really well. Slowly add the olive oil to the dressing, and whisk vigorously to get it evenly infused. This is what your sauce should look like. (Also - this sauce is really good for egg salads, sandwiches, etc.)

Once your pasta is cooled, mix up the lemon sauce, vegetables, and pasta. Salt and pepper to taste.

Let this mixture chill in the fridge for 1-2 hours. This lets the flavors meld and lets the pasta salad get cold.  Once its chilled, you can eat! This should stay good for 3-5 days if kept in a sealed container in the fridge. You can also just eat it right away if in a hurry, it will just be a warm pasta salad. Still delicious!

Enjoy! Suggestions, comments?