Whole Wheat Fusilli Pasta Salad

Mancini’s whole wheat fusilli provides the perfect base for this summer-y pasta salad. This recipe will steal the show at your next picnic! It also makes for a great lunch or dinner. The ingredients (you can shop all of those here) are fresh, simple and nutritious!

This is a fool-proof recipe. Meaning, aside from boiling the pasta and letting it cool, you simply can't go wrong. Have fun adding and playing around with the ingredients. 

What makes this recipe even easier is that our Ocean Pesto comes ready made -- so you don’t even have to bring the mixer out. Dig in! 

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 package Mancini Whole Wheat Fusilli Pasta
• ¼ cup good olive oil
• 1 jar Ocean Pesto 
• ½ pound of snap peas, cut in 1/3rds at an angle
• 1 pound of arugula 
• 1 lemon
• ½ cup parmesan cheese
• ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• ¼ cup nuts (we used sunflower seeds but any type of pine nut, chopped walnut or almond will do)
• 3 tablespoons chopped garlic (10 cloves)

INSTRUCTIONS

• Cook the Fusilli in a large pot of boiling salted water for 7-9 minutes until the pasta is al dente.
• Drain well, then toss the Fusilli into a large mixing bowl and coat with ¼ cup of olive oil (or enough to your liking).
• Let pasta cool to room temperature, or cover and refrigerate until cool. 
• While pasta is cooling, prep the rest of the ingredients to mix in.
• Rinse and cut the snap peas into ⅓ or ¼ pieces at angles.
• Cut lemon and squeeze juice into a small bowl. Save a few slices for garnish.
• Grate the parmesan cheese.
• Then once the pasta has cooled to your liking, add half of the jar of Ocean Pesto. Gauge how much sauce you would like to include (some prefer it thicker/richer than others). We used the whole jar!
• Mix in all the other tasty ingredients. Peas, arugula, lemon juice, nuts, and more olive oil if you’d like.
• Let the whole mixture sit for about 15-30 minutes -- or eat it right away if you’re hungry! 
• Then, portion out the leftovers into small tupperware to eat for lunch/snacks during the week.