…will give you a nice salad together. I discovered it one day when I needed to quickly prepare something light from these ingredients and I did not want to end up with some creamy pasta dish. Light was the word to be kept in mind. So here’s the recipe which will feed about 3 persons:
250 g spaghetti 3 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic gloves, crushed
3 tbsp olives, sliced
1 tsp grated lemon rind
2 tbsp basil pesto
200 g feta cheese, chopped into cubes
2 tbsp lemon juice
50 g rocket leaves 7-8 cherry tomatoes (optional)
# Boil the spaghetti in a pot of boiling water (seasoned with some salt) until al dente.
# While it is cooking, heat the olive oil in a pan over a medium heat. Add garlic, olives and lemon rind and simmer at low heat for about 2-3 minutes. Add pesto, stir and remove from heat.
# Drain spaghetti and place in a salad bowl. LEt it cool for about 10 minutes.
# Add cubed feta and lemon juice and give the salad a good toss. Also drizzle pesto-garlic-lemon rind mix on top.
# Finally add rocket leaves, stir carefully and serve. If you are using cherry tomatoes, add them together with the rocket leaves.
# Oh, and I remember that one time I also added chopped prosciutto to the salad, together with the rocket leaves and tomatoes. So if you like meat, feel free to add some.
That kind of salad. Be careful with the lemon juice – if you add it too much, you’ll end up with pretty acid salad. It tastes the best when warm (not too cold and not too hot). If too hot, the rocket leaves will lose their shape and turn into to ugly and tasteless thingies you don’t want to eat.
Basil and lemon pair really well with feta and rocket leaves – and the salad smells very good as well. When I have heated it for lunch at work, my office is full of lovely flavours…a bonus I would say! In many cases the reheated food does not smell that good – let’s say pasta in Alfredo sauce – I have brought it to work one time and ended up being in an office full of garlic smell…not that nice…
I remember having seen a similar recipe which uses capers and lime instead of olives and lemon. It could be just as good – but I never have limes at hand, let alone capers, so I haven’t yet had the chance to try.
