When I got married and moved here, I didn’t think too much about having K’s sister and her family live in the same locality as well. Over time, we have grown to cherish each other’s presence in our lives, look up to each other for guidance / advice and forged a lovely relationship. Her husband likes to be called Nalan (of the famous Nala-Damayanthi story who is supposed to be a great cook), atleast in the blogosphere and not without reason. He is an awesome cook; his vegetable biryani is to die for and he makes one of the best (home-made from scratch) pizza, I have ever had.

K and I land up in their house almost every other weekend (if not every) under some pretext or the other; why would we not when we get awesome food every time we go there :) He had made this pasta for a potluck family night dinner and when I tasted it, I knew I had to post this on my blog. It is such an easy, simple and healthy dish that is extremely kid-friendly; my nephew and niece will attest to that.


Nalan’s Recipe for Colorful Pasta Salad:

1 pack of pasta (penne or fusilli)

Carrot, Zucchini, Summer Squash, cut long and thick - about 2 cups

Onions, thinly sliced - 1

Cauliflower, broccoli, cut into medium-sized florets - about 1.5 cups

Cherry tomatoes - 10

Olives, pitted - 10-15

EVOO - 2 tsp

White Wine Vinegar - 2 tsp

Cook pasta al dente, following the instructions in the pack. Usually, I add a tbsp of salt to boiling water and cook pasta for about 8-10 minutes. This results in al dente pasta for me everytime, without fail.

In a frying pan, to EVOO, shallow fry onions till they are well done. Cook the rest of the veggies for a couple of minutes, so that they are not raw but undercooked.

Toss the pasta and veggies with vinegar. Season with pepper and salt.