Do you have picky eaters at home? I do, and as a chef, it seriously dissapoints! If it were up to me, everyone in my home would have an adventurous palate. But even I can't control people's culinary preferences. However, I can influence them! Luckily I've crafted a recipe that satisfies both mature and youthful taste buds alike! With that said - how do you feel about carbonara pasta? Most people like this classic Italian recipe because it has simple yet satisfying flavors, and it contains bacon! Who wouldn't love it? Well, I've created a spinoff dish where we ditch the cream sauce, use grain-free pasta, and replace the bacon with ham so it can be served as a pasta salad! It's awesome! Disclaimer: I originally wrote this recipe only using 4 ingredients -pasta, peas, ham, and cheese. Just an fyi - these ingredients are separate from the flavor components - salt, pepper, evoo, vinegar. Now, you can still stick with the original recipe, trust me it will still taste fab! However, I found a bunch of other items in my fridge that I knew would go great in it. So I added them to the recipe, cause I couldn't help myself. I'll let you decide how you want to make this dish! That's the thing - the beauty behind recipe developing is that there are no specific rules, only instinctive creation. So go get sassy in that kitchen of yours!
Yields: 6-8 Servings Time:25 Minutes
INGREDIENTS
1 box Banza Bean Pasta 1 cup deli ham, chopped in shreds 1 cup rotisserie chicken, chopped in shreds 2 sausage links, sliced on a bias 1 cup frozen peas, thawed 1 cup grape tomatoes, sliced in half (optional) 1/2 cup white cheddar cheese, chopped in small cubes 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar 1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided 1 teaspoon Himalayan salt Black pepper to taste
METHOD 1. Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the box. Add salt to the pot of boiling water to flavor the pasta. Also add olive oil to the water so the pasta doesn't stick to each other after you drain it. 2. Prepare the ingredients as listed above. 3. Cook the sausage in a skillet with an inch of a water so it steams and doesn't burn. If you want the tomatoes cooked, add them in the skillet. Fold them in when you mix all of the ingredients together. 5. If you want to serve this dish hot, add the chicken, peas, and ham into the skillet and mix together. The cheese will be tossed in when you mix all of the ingredients later. 4. After the sausage is done cooking and the pasta is drained, mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste as needed. 5. This dish can be served hot or cold! If you want to serve it cold be sure to let it cool down before refrigerating it.