girl, MORE pasta salad?!

and my formal hate letter to penne

My last pasta salad post has unleashed an obsession within me, so the very next day I got back into my kitchen and this baby was born. I don’t see any end in sight for this, so I hope you guys like pasta salad.

I’ve gotten a lot of questions about why I’m such a penne hater, and figured if I’m going to single handedly try taking down a pasta shape, I should explain myself. There are 2 factors that qualify a pasta shape for me:

1. carriage

2. bite scope

The carriage of a pasta shape entails its ability to transport the ingredients of your salad to your mouth. Does it have the right nooks + crannies to lock sauce in? Can it trap a mozzarella pearl or two in it’s crevice? Do the ridges cling onto pesto?

Bite scope entails how proportionate a pasta shape is to the rest of the ingredients to deliver you the perfect single biter. You typically want something that will be around the same size as your ingredients and stab well on your fork. A pasta salad is only as good as the perfect mix of each item in one bite, so your pasta shape better help that along.

Now, does penne have either of these 2 components? No. Just think about it.

1. The crevice is too tight to capture any ingredients

2. Grilled cheese should be cut on a diagonal, not a pasta shape.

3. No funky ridges for sauce + an odd length. The only thing that’s a fitting companion for penne is asparagus cut into pieces. So enjoy your asparagus pasta salad or whatever.

No further explanation. Let’s get into the recipe!

Pasta Salad

• 1 lb non-penne pasta

• 1/2 lb prosciutto

• 1-2 burrata balls (I used Belgioioso black truffle one and omfg)

• 1/2 head radicchio, sliced thinly in 2” strips

• 2 handfuls basil, julienned or torn or whatever

• 8 oz jarred roasted red peppers, chopped (or homemade if you got it like that)

• 5 oz castelvetrano olives, halved

• 1/2 cup capers

• 1/2 bulb fennel, very thinly sliced/grated (optional if you don’t like just omit)

• freshly grated parm…much of it

1. boil your pasta to a nice al dente, remember it won’t cook more in a sauce after this so make sure you like how it tastes as is, we don’t wan’t crunchy pasta salad.

**I drain + leave the pasta verrrry semi warm, so when I pour the first 1/2 of my dressing on it it, it absorbs the flavor a little better. but if you’re serving stat just rinse it fully totally fine.

2. lay prosciutto slices on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. bake for about 12-15 min ish. they should be very golden brown + all squiggled up. let them cool completely before crumbling up into little pieces with your hands. if they’re not crumbling easily, you need to continue baking them. set aside.

3. dry off your capers with paper towels and add to a small saucepan on medium heat with hot oil. you don’t need a crazy amount of oil at all, just enough to cover the surface. be careful and keep an eye on these, they sizzle crazy and will burn if you don’t watch them. remove from heat when they start to “bloom” their little leave, about 4ish min. drain on a paper towel and set aside.

4. add all your ingredients to a large bowl. i like to dress the pasta alone with 1/2 the dressing and then the other 1/2 with all of the ingredients.

5. add the burrata in pieces on top of the pasta salad + serve immediately. I wouldn’t recommend fully mixing the burrata into the salad if you’re going to eat this for like a week, but I did mix it together and keep it in my fridge mixed for 2 days after and it was totally great and held in the salad. just not sure about longer than that, experiment if you like :)

dressing:

• 1/2 shallot, minced

• crushed red pepper flakes

• salt + lots of fresh cracked pepper

• 4 garlic cloves

• 5 anchovies

• 1 lemon zested + juiced

• few dashes red wine vinegar

• 1/2 ish cup olive oil

1. mince your garlic, shallot and anchovies on a cutting board. mash into a paste.

2. mix your anchovies paste with the remaining ingredients in a small bowl. set aside to marinate the flavors together. be cautious with salt since the anchovies, capers, prosciutto are salty in the salad already. you can always add more at the end.

This is the only form of meal prep I’m participating in these days, so get your tupperwares out and make yourself a big ol batch of pasta salad for the week !!

as always, I’m always posting throughout the week on instagram + tiktok:

instagram: @babytamagooo

tiktok: @babytamago

hope you have a delicious sunday <333