Lemon Basil Pasta Salad

Refreshing, creamy, tangy goodness. This is the perfect pasta dish to add to your recipe book this summer!

So I'm going to toss out my unpopular opinion - I'm not the biggest pasta fan. It's not that I don't like it, but I rarely ever crave any kind of pasta. That being said, when I do want pasta, I want something simple with lots of flavor - specifically lemon, pepper, and herbs. Now that summer is here, this is the perfect time to break out this pasta salad recipe!

The inspiration on this recipe actually comes from my mom. My family comes over quite often for dinner, especially considering I cook almost every day. Recently, my parents were planning to come over and mom called to tell me she was really craving some kind of basil pasta, to which I initially resisted because it was 85 degrees out. However, she was pretty set on it and brought over loads of fresh basil from her garden. We landed on making pasta salad. I tend to forget that chilled pasta is a thing because I normally don't reach for it. That night I made a creamy, lemon basil pasta that was absolutely delicious, but my family is impatient when it comes to food so we didn't wait for it to chill. I also realized that was best due to all of the cream and butter in the dish. Heavy ingredients like that don't boast well for chilled pasta.

I decided shortly after that night to come up with a pasta salad that I would love. I knew anything with a lot of lemon would do the trick. Thus, my lemon basil pasta salad was born!

This dish is so refreshing between the lemon and basil exploding with flavor, to the pepper and parmesan leaving a rich taste behind that will leave you wanting more every time! This is also an extremely easy dish to make, and perfect to bring for your next party! I promise you will not regret adding this recipe to your summer staple list. It's definitely on mine.

Lemon Basil Pasta Salad

Serves: 6-8

Time Needed: 20 minutes

Ingredients needed

• 1lb pasta of choice - I use Fusilli, but rotini or bowtie are great for this

• 1/4 cup of fresh basil

• 2 tomatoes, diced

• 1/2 cup of parmesan

Dressing

• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

• The juice and zest of 2-3 lemons

• 3/4 cup of white wine vinegar

• 1/2 cup of fresh basil

• 1/2 cup of fresh parsley

• 1/2 cup of almonds - pine nuts or walnuts are also great

• Half of a shallot

• 1/3 cup of chives

• 2 cloves of garlic

Directions

1. Follow the directions for your pasta. Be sure not to overcook otherwise you'll end up with a mushy pasta salad.

2. In a blender or food processor, add your dressing ingredients and blend until fully you have a solid dressing. You want this dressing to be thick, but not so thick that you can't easily pour it over your pasta. If your dressing isn't blending well, it's too thick. add some more olive oil and lemon juice.

3. Once your pasta has cooled, pour the dressing over. Add in your diced tomato, majority of your basil, and most of your parmesan. Reserve some of both for garnish

4. Combine well. Garnish with a little more basil and parmesan.

5. Cover and put into the refrigerator for at least 1-2 hours to let the flavors melt together, then serve.

Pro Tip: If your pasta gets a little dry in the refrigerator, just add more olive oil and lemon juice over it and toss. It will be good as new.

This dish is incredibly easy to make considering how delicious it is. If you bring this pasta salad to your next get together, you will have everyone asking how you made it!

Let me know if you decide to give this recipe a try! I would love to get your feedback on it, or if you made any changes what those are and how it turned out!