The Home Cook: Tortellini Salad

I am not an adventurous cook. I like recipes, instructions, plans and everything to be just so-so. I like the order of knowing what I need and having the safety net of someone else taking the fall when things turn our horribly, horribly wrong; which happens every so often. I like knowing where I'm going before I start, which takes every last ounce of fun out of cooking for some people. So in the big scheme of things it's not to often I strike out on my own. Though it should be noted that "striking out on my own" generally involves A LOT of research before hand followed by the marriage of no less than 4-8 recipes later on. Those rare occasions when no one recipe seems to encapsulate that mystery flavor harboring in my brain and lingering in my palette, is when I'm most likely to forage ahead sans recipe or *gasp* sans plan.

For weeks I've been craving something with pasta and also something that is simple, simple, simple. (I suspect the need for simple stems from the not yet fully recovered from but fully completed Move.)The ability to add chicken was also a must. In short I've wanted a salad I could transform into a lunch; since I'm part of the lunchbox brigade these days it seemed like such a practical wish. But with all things, achieving simplicity is much harder than it looks. As my quest for the perfect pasta salad recipe moved from cookbooks to magazines to the net, I slowly realized exactly what I wanted might not be as easy as a ctrl+p or see page: 162, GHK. Instead it was shaping up to be a bit more: ((ctrl+p)2 + (see page: 148, GHK + see page: 27, June 2005 CL + see: black market recipe purchased by selling spleen))=yum. It was turning into one of those rare bouts of culinary creativity.

The originally impetuous behind all this was to make a generous amount of the yet undetermined side salad to accompany two grilled chickens sometime over Memorial Day weekend. The leftovers, of both the salad and the chicken would be my property to tinker with after the fact. I had dreams of adding curry and pine nuts or possibly capers, but as it happens dreams sometimes get cut off at the knees. My basic salad barely made it past the side stage; only a few dregs heaped sadly in a small tupperware were left over. No tinkering for me. BUT the basic salad was clearly a hit (with Tim at least) so I'll have to save it for posterity. Overall it's not some grand discovery made in the name of side salads, but it's a nice variation of the million and seven penne/rotini/fusellini salads that crop up every summer.

Tortellini Salad*

1 - 16oz package of refrigerated Cheese Tortellini, these were three-cheese

4 slices of Bacon, cooked crisp, drained and crumbled

3 Carrots or two handfuls of Baby Carrots, coined or julienned**

2 short stalks Celery, diced

1 cup Peas, par cooked or half a can

2 Green Onions or one small Shallot minced

1/2 cup (or a lot more) grated Smoked Gouda

Fresh Ground Pepper

Garlic Cesar Dressing

Cook the tortellini to al dente according to the package directions and drain. Mix remaining ingredients and refrigerate overnight. Add more dressing before serving if the salad has "dried out".

*All the amounts are rough estimates and can be adjusted to your taste. In the future I'd consider the addition of some other flavors like diced Roma Tomatoes, cucumbers, toasted pine nuts, sliced olives, pimento, capers, chicken or snow peas. (But not all together.)

**To soften the carrots I place them in the bottom of the strainer and strain the hot pasta over them. I also usually let them sit under the pasta for a few minutes before running cold water over everything.