Lemon Capellini Salad Recipe Whiskaffair

on Aug 04, 2022, Updated Dec 06, 2023 You may like some more salad recipes: Din Tai Fung Cucumber Salad, Thai Watermelon Salad, Cajun Potato Salad, Malaysian Mango Salad, and Thai Green Papaya Salad.

About Lemon Capellini Salad

Lemon Capellini Salad is a refreshing pasta salad made using capellini pasta (or angel hair pasta), cherry tomatoes, capers, and other simple ingredients. It is great to serve as a light meal or a side dish with meat or veggies. It is also a great dish to serve at BBQs, picnics, parties, or potlucks. The best thing about this dish is that it can be made and refrigerated before you are ready to serve it.

Variations

There are several delicious variations that you can try with your Lemon Capellini Salad. Some of my favorites include: You can also use other types of pasta, such as farfalle or rotini. Others – You will also need a few other basic ingredients, such as extra virgin olive oil, red pepper flakes, garlic cloves, salt, freshly cracked black pepper, baby capers, lemon zest, freshly squeezed lemon juice, cherry tomatoes, baby spinach, parmesan cheese, and fresh basil leaves. Replace parmesan cheese with nutritional yeast or any vegan cheese to make a vegan recipe. Once the water comes to a rolling boil, add 2 tablespoon salt and 9 oz (250 g) capellini pasta. Cook until Al Dente (just cooked). Add the following ingredients and saute for 8-10 seconds.

⅓ cup baby capers (drained) 2 teaspoon red pepper flakes 1 teaspoon minced garlic 2 teaspoon lemon zest

2 cups of halved cherry tomatoes 2 cups packed baby spinach 1 cup of chopped basil leaves

Drain the cooked pasta (reserve some water), add it to the skillet, and toss well.

¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice ½ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

Add ½ cup grated parmesan cheese and mix well. Check for salt and add more if needed. Add some reserved pasta water if the pasta looks dry. Serve as hot pasta salad or refrigerate for a few hours and serve as a cold pasta salad. Add nuts like pine nuts, almonds, and pecans for extra flavor and texture. Use chopped sun-dried tomatoes instead of cherry tomatoes for a more intense tomato flavor. Switch up the types of vegetables used in the salad, such as swapping fresh spinach with arugula or adding roasted red peppers for a pop of color and flavor. You can replace cherry tomatoes with grape tomatoes or regular tomatoes cut into bite-size pieces. You can also replace spinach with peppery arugula. Basil leaves can be replaced with fresh oregano or any other herb. Be sure to use freshly squeezed lemon juice for this salad. The bottled lemon juice will not provide the same flavor. If you are making this pasta dish ahead of time, wait to add the cherry tomatoes until just before serving so they do not get mushy. You can experiment with different types of pasta and vegetables in this salad. There are many delicious possibilities! Reserve 2 tablespoon of the brine from the capers and add the reserved brine to the pasta recipe for a nice tangy taste.