Super Pasta Salad

When I was in college (a thousand years ago) I made a lot of pasta salad.  It was cheap and easy; two essential college components. Pasta salad, ramen noodles and nachos were unfortunately my go-to meals.  I overdosed on them and haven't been able to eat them since.... yes, I know, I'm not missing out.

The past few weeks I've had to make lunch for the students in the culinary program, and every lunch includes a salad.  I'm not afraid to say that I make a mean salad, and the students have been very complimentary of each and every one, taking pictures and jotting down the ingredients... boy, I love their enthusiasm!  But I was really getting tired of greens, so yesterday I went back in time and whipped up a grown-up pasta salad....

I used quinoa pasta for starters; it's gluten-free and is a good source of protein.  My favorite brand is Ancient Harvest.  I picked the Garden Pagoda pasta; like radiatore, it has lots of grooves to hold sauce or, in this case, dressing. 

I blanched a bunch of asparagus and cut them into bite-sized pieces, chopped some radishes, carrots and kalamata olives, and tossed in frozen corn and toasted walnuts.  For the dressing I simply mixed cider vinegar, diced shallots, dijon mustard, a tiny bit of honey, salt and pepper and then slowly whisked in twice as much olive oil as vinegar.  Pour it over the salad and give it a good toss.  It's perfect for these hot days, travels well, and is great the next day.  And it looks pretty.....you know how I like food to be pretty!

Enjoy!