Cold Caprese Pasta Salad

Are you ever, like, sick to death of eating everything? (Sorry for the Valley Girl there, I felt like a 17 year old saying such a thing.) Sometimes I feel like I get into this rut of eating the same stuff over and over and then I’m so bored of it I can’t get motivated to eat. I’ve been feeling that way all week. It doesn’t help that last weekend I had an amazing foodie weekend, with my dad’s homemade cheeseburgers on Friday, Mummy’s Pozole for Kelly’s birthday on Saturday, and then a great dining out experience at a restaurant in Toronto on Sunday, which included some great company as well.

Looking around my own kitchen today was not inspiring. So, this forced me to go to Loblaws and wander around for about an hour trying to get inspired. I ended up just craving something fresh and light, whilst tasting delicious. My go-to recipe for that is Caprese salad, but we all know that’s a bit played out. (Yet, not played out enough to be ironically retro, so therefore it is not suited for our blog.) I also love pasta because it’s so easy, but I could not get into a sauce for pasta. I was literally just standing in Cheese and Olive eating free samples of smoked Gouda when inspiration hit- I would make a cold Caprese pasta salad. (Just for your information, the delicatessen employees will start to give you cut-eye if you eat more than three free samples of cheese.)

This recipe is totally easy, so easy, in fact, I’m not sure it technically qualifies as a recipe at all (I’m having “Late Night Bacon” flashbacks here). Boil pasta (angel hair is my preference for cold salads, anything else gets too clumped together like pottery or something when it’s cold) and then rinse under cold water. Chop up some tomatoes (buy heirloom so it at least looks like you put some thought into if you’re serving this to other people); stir in some Bocconcini pearls and chiffonade some basil. Top with olive oil, salt and pepper, and let the flavours of the ingredients do the talking. So simple and so delicious.

This basil chiffonade is now our very first LadyGirls’ Table video! Now, do not judge the video quality- it’s our first try! But it does make your visits a little more spiffy, doesn’t it? More to come soon!