Simple Artichoke Pasta Salad
Everyone is looking for a balanced diet right? Well, I’m pretty sure this has all the major food groups in it, so just pick up a fork and roll with it. My life could sustain solely on everything in this salad – because the pillars of any good, balanced diet include sweet peppers, carbs in pasta form, lemon spritzed everywhere and on everything, marinated artichokes that fall to pieces in your mouth, and four cloves of garlic when only two are required. See, balance. This simple artichoke pasta salad should probably be called artichoke pasta salad salad, but that’s just semantics. Ben was entirely thrown off by the addition of the lettuce to the “pasta salad”, but that’s fine – more for ME! I’m so selfless. And I’m so totally going to be making another batch of this pronto.
The lemon, dijon and garlic combo is just one for the record books – and opening my mouth and shoveling this in was quite possibly one of the most unlady like spectacles seen since Lindsay Lohan did anything, ever. But you’ll forgive my artichoke salad induced unladylikeness because once you try this you will see – it’s worth every second of shoveling. Dear god it’s good.
On another note – I’m not one to normally whine and squawk over the changes in daylight savings time, but was this particular switch really hard on anyone else? A whole hour leapt forward, lost to oblivion? Sure it’s only one hour of one day – but that one hour came out of my weekend! Couldn’t that one hour have sprung forward today, on a Monday when we all know it is going to be dragging on an on just because it’s Monday and it can!?
If ever there was a day to be jumped forward an hour – it’s a Monday. Give us something here people!
Those Day Light Savings Time Keepers… How Wwwwude..
Whoa, my 90’s kid tag line alter ego just slipped out. Get back in there Stephanie Tanner, no one has time for your slap bracelets and neon geometric sweaters. Oh, who are we kidding, we all do.
So kids, lesson of the day – bust out a really big fork, devour THIS. jumper into your 90’s neon sweater and Netflix some Full House (is it even on Netflix, because if it is – my sit-on-my-can time just got booked), and relive the glory days.
Also – I can not be help responsible if Nana writes you out of the will because you bring this to your next family picnic and it boots her sad soggy canned pea and pasta salad to second place. Just a proper warning.
Take a peek at these other veggie filled recipes:
Balsamic Roasted Root Vegetables – Country Cleaver
Spicy Pork and Veggie Lettuce Wraps – Simply Scratch
Cuban Black Beans and Rice – Closet Cooking
Mexican Corn Salad – ValSoCal
Spicy Vegetable Coconut Curry – Country Cleaver
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Simple Artichoke Pasta Salad
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Rest Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 2 1x
- Category: Salad
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
This pasta salad is loaded with marinated artichokes and pasta, and tossed with a bright lemon dijon garlic dressing. It’s a perfect dish for a summer picnic!
Ingredients
- 6 ounces Pasta Shells
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 1 Tbsp Mayonnaise
- 1 tsp Dijon Mustard
- ½ tsp Lemon Zest
- 4 tsp Lemon Juice
- ½ cup Marinated Artichoke Hearts
- 2 Tbsp Artichoke Marinade
- 1 Tbsp Grated Parmesan
- 2 cups Escarole or Lettuce
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions. Reserve ¼ cup pasta water. Drain.
- Mince garlic. Add minced garlic to a small bowl. Add in mayonnaise, mustard, lemon zest, lemon juice and artichoke marinade. Whisk together. Season with salt and pepper to taste. If the sauce is too thick, add a little of the reserved pasta water to thin it out.
- Toss drained pasta into the sauce and coat pasta thoroughly. Mix in artichoke hearts and parmesan cheese. Place in fridge to chill and let flavors develop. 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- When ready to serve, mix pasta and artichokes with rinsed and chopped lettuce or escarole. Serve immediately, sprinkle with additional parmesan cheese if desired. *Note* it is best not to combine pasta/sauce with lettuce until right before serving or the lettuce will wilt.
Notes
Adapted from Everyday Food Magazine November 2012
Ooo….now this is how I like my salads. With pasta!
I love that this has lettuce in it, I’ve never had a pasta salad like this before. It looks so beautiful!
I love artichokes, but so rarely have them in anything but spinach artichoke dip 🙂 This is a must-try!
I can see why this salad inspired unladylike behavior. I’d be tempted to just stand with my head in the fridge, munching away on this.
Oh I heart all things artichoke! Love this!
I am all over this salad!! Love lemon and dijon!!
What a great salad with the added pasta!
Sounds great!! I love anything with artichokes, and the dressing sounds so bright and delicious!
I am in love with this salad and I don’t care who knows it!
I can totally imagine Ben’s reaction lol Of course this is basically a dressed up pasta salad so more for you is always a bonus right? 🙂
This is exactly what I need to change up my salads right now. Excellent recipe! To suit my needs, I’ll use whole grain pasta, romaine, and add grilled chicken breast for extra protein. Can’t wait to make this! 😉
As far as the time change – I TRIED to plan ahead this year… I took an Ambien to get to sleep earlier. That worked, but then I slept past 1pm. I can’t remember the last time I did that! So yeah, it sucked this year. 🙂
Love this one, Megan. Especially with the added pasta!
This is just what I need for lunch!!! Thanks for the blog LOVE =))
This salad is exactly what I need to drown my day light savings time hangover! So many layers of flavors.
i love this – healthy and flavorful. an easy way to get me to get some greens in me 🙂
Haha love full house! I get such a kick out of it. And Comet is my favorite. I need to get me one of those. And this salad. I need a balanced diet. My skinny jeans are way too tight.
Generally grown as a hardy annual, lettuce is easily cultivated, although it requires relatively low temperatures to prevent it from flowering quickly. It can be plagued with numerous nutrient deficiencies, as well as insect and mammal pests and fungal and bacterial diseases. L. sativa crosses easily within the species and with some other species within the Lactuca genus; although this trait can be a problem to home gardeners who attempt to save seeds, biologists have used it to broaden the gene pool of cultivated lettuce varieties. ..”,^
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