I was going to post something pretty today, to make up for the very unpretty dinner I made yesterday. Then today's dinner turned out ugly as well. Bah. Who needs looks, these are both delicious. Most suitable for summer when you can barely be bothered to boil something quick, and productive of useful leftovers. Much tupperware. Not least, as I've been to the office AGAIN today. Twice in a fortnight! This is totally normal. I remembered that I have a tea mug at the office still, but forgot I am lacking in spoons. (It's all right, in the stationery drawer under the flipcharts there turned out to be a stash of plastic spoons and champagne flutes, for reasons I either don't know or have lost during the pandemic.) But catering and getting around the building are still something of an issue, and I am firmly bringing my own lunch for now.
So this pasta salad has been fully road tested: fresh last night, and as marinated in the fridge overnight/bag on the commute/back into the office fridge/defrosted on my desk for 30 minutes while I dealt with something unexpected. In both cases, good. Home Cookery Year, pasta with Sicilian flavours: you're okay by me. It is, however, definitely not for the finicky. It's both ugly and a slightly odd flavour combination by most of our lights.
First cook your pasta. Conchiglie are good. Then drain them, add plenty of olive oil, and add a solid handful of raisins. Leave them to cool, and for the raisins to plump a bit.
Now make your pesto. You will need cherry tomatoes, garlic, basil (loads), pine nuts (not too many), fennel seeds, more olive oil, blended hard. You're supposed to put in anchovies too, but I'm on a veggie week and honestly I thought it would be plenty salty (I have some ancient pecorino doing cheese duty here, it is practically able to walk by itself). Then add in some grated parmesan if you don't have an antique heel of cheap pecorino.
This is where it gets ugly. Your cherry tomatoes and your basil will vanish, and become... blurge.
Don't be downhearted. You're going to make it uglier! Take some more pine nuts, and some whole pitted olives and bung them on top. Then add the zest and juice of a lemon, or if you prefer an orange. Generally I'm a lemon-lover, but I was intrigued at the salty-orangey mix and I had oranges thanks to wekend cocktails. It was a delicious decision.
Mix it all together, and eat it in the next day or two. I've got yet more for lunch tomorrow.
Tonight, I made a sweetcorn salad (from Simply), except one of my sweetcorn had gone soggy, dammit. I should know better than to buy prepped corn if I'm not using it quickly. So it's a less yellow salad than it should be. Mixed with tomatoes, avocados, black beans, a tidge of mayo, coriander, finely sliced kaffir lime leaves, chillis in theory, lime juice in practice, plenty of seasoning. It's good.
But what with less bright corn than expected, and the impact of mixing mayo, black beans and avocado around the tomatoes and what corn remained... it ain't beautiful.
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