Recipe: Pasta salad with lemon and peas

Add this easy pasta salad to your summer menu.

Posted 12:05 a.m. Aug 6, 2021 — Updated 12:05 a.m. Aug 6, 2021

Sarah Lindenfeld Hall

Editor's note: This is an oldie but goodie recipe on Go Ask Mom.

I knew two things on Tuesday: My older daughter had a T-ball game and I needed to change my dinner plans.

My brilliant idea for the evening was breakfast for dinner. But I knew that after sitting out in the 90-plus degree heat, I wasn't going to want to make pancakes and bacon and nobody was going to want to eat them.

So, less than an hour before the game, I scratched those plans. I figured that a pasta salad that I could just pull out of the refrigerator would be a good idea. So I typed in pasta salad into Google and hoped for the best.

I got lucky. I pulled up a recipe from GoodHousekeeping.com that called for ingredients that I (mostly) had on hand. I was able to get rid of a couple of half boxes of pasta and actually use some of the basil that is growing in my garden.

And it was delicious! I paired it with some sliced cucumber and cheese and crackers. I think next time I might also chop up a little fresh mint, also in the garden, to add to the salad. And I think the dressing would be really yummy on a tossed salad too.

Pasta Salad with Lemon and Peas

1 pound bow-tie or small shell pasta (I used a mix of penne and rotini)
Salt
1 package (10-ounce) frozen baby peas
2 lemons
2/3 cups milk
1/2 cup light mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 cup (loosely packed) fresh basil leaves, chopped
4 green onions, thinly sliced (I didn't have any so skipped these).

Directions:

1.Cook pasta as label directs, adding frozen peas during last 2 minutes of cooking time. Drain pasta and peas; rinse with cold water and drain well.

2. Meanwhile, from lemons, grate 1 tablespoon peel and squeeze 3 tablespoons juice. In large bowl, with wire whisk, mix lemon peel and juice with milk, mayonnaise, pepper, basil, green onions, and 1 teaspoon salt until blended.

3. Add pasta and peas to mayonnaise dressing; toss to coat well. Cover and refrigerate up to two days if not serving right away.

GoodHousekeeping.com has other recipes for some tasty looking pasta salads which I might just have to try too.

Go Ask Mom features recipes every Friday.

Suggest A Correction