One of the things I missed the most when becoming gluten-free was all the pasta salads on the table during summer get-togethers. I haven’t tried to recreate many until this year. I guess it’s time after six years so now I’m planning on bringing them to all the BBQs over the summer!
This summer salad is really simple. Ziti gluten-free pasta is combined with chopped kale and red cabbage and then drenched in Caesar dressing.
Instead of using commercially-prepared salad dressings, even though there are a couple brands that I really love the taste, I don’t like that companies can’t seem to use any kind of quality oils and instead resort to cheap soybean, canola or cottonseed oils. They are all genetically modified and, in my opinion, do not promote health but instead help contribute to the chronic inflammation of people the world wide.
My recipe for Caesar dressing takes only five minutes to make and it’s just as good as anything, if not better, than what’s on the market. You have complete control of the quality of your ingredients when you make things at home.
As with most gluten-free pastas, they don’t hold up in the long term. I typically use brown rice pasta. It’s pretty good when it’s made fresh but once it’s chilled, it becomes brittle. You can mitigate this by bringing your pasta salad to room temperature before serving. (If it’s been stored in the fridge.) This salad is not best if made ahead of time. It should be mixed up immediately after cooking the pasta and serving shortly after.
- 16 oz. gluten-free pasta, cooked and cooled
- 2 cups kale, crunched and chopped fine
- 1 cup red cabbage, shredded
- 1 recipe - Caesar Salad dressing (on the blog)
- Shredded Asiago or Parmesan cheese to garnish
- Combine all and season with salt and pepper, if desired.
- Serve at room temperature.
- If you need to store it in the refrigerator, allow to come back to room temperature before serving.