Today, Mysha (one of my new roommates) invited me to join her at a little bakery in Durham, NC called Daisy Cakes. Long story short about Daisy Cakes - it was awesome!!!
I had the fennel, zucchini, and something or other sandwich, seen here. It was so delicious. But actually, the most memorable thing on that plate was that little scoop of pasta salad. I don't know what was in it, but it was deeeeee-licious!!!
Sandwich with super amazing awesome pasta salad.
I was told the dressing for the pasta salad was a balsamic vinaigrette. Which seemed like a huge lie, but y'know, what do I know. It also had fennel in it, but it was kinda soft and not too crunchy, which made it even better. And it also reminded me of how I actually kinda like fennel!
So I went home... And I was committed to making this happen. Making what happen, you ask? Making that gosh darn delicoius pasta salad. So Mysha was kind enough to take me to the grocery store and I bought me some fennel. I also bought me a tomato. and some arugula.
I got home and I started cooking. Here's the breakdown:
- boil water, make pasta (i used whole wheat pasta)
- thinly slice fennel.
- pick basil from Mysha's garden - like 10 leaves or something. Chop that up real thin.
- chop up that tomato into bite size pieces.
- just before i throw in that pasta, blanche the fennel. for like 30 seconds.
- mix together some olive oil, and (wait for it...) a MIX of red wine vinegar AND balsamic vinegar. aw yeah. (I did like 1/3 balsamic, 2/3 red wine vinegar). I'm usually pretty cheap when it comes to salt, but I put in a relatively generous amount of salt and some pepper.
- arugula. wash the arugula, put it in a bowl with the fennel and tomato. A bit of salt on the arugula seems to help too.
- once the pasta is done, wash it down with cold water.
- mix EVERYTHING together!!!!!!!!
the result: don't wanna toot my own horn or anything... but you get deliciousness. gloriousness. something worthy of Zeus' dinner table.
My not-so-modest pasta salad.
Something else you should also know about Daisy Cakes: they made a gingerbread cookie that had bacon in it. Surprisingly delicious.
Bacon Gingerbread Cookie. You can really taste the bacon!
Hope you enjoy the pasta salad as much as I do! And if you ever find yourself in Durham, NC, get yourself to Daisy Cakes!
Love and exploding props,
Yuna
PS - asian glow.
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