summer vegetable pasta salad: recipe salvage

Okay. So, as soon as you get your breath back, you can see why I had to make this recipe one day after receiving my September issue of Gourmet. A luscious, glorious stack of summer vegetables that demanded my attention and seemed to promise to be more than the sum of its parts.

I succumbed, preparing it for a very special dinner party featuring Vellum, a most delicious wine from Napa Valley. Here is my slightly less stylized and photoshopped version, made with Snow's Bend multicolored summer squash.

Unfortunately, here is a case where beauty just wasn't enough. Perhaps there were too many other delicious items on offer (creamed corn with queso fresco, peppercorn-encrusted NY strips, steamed okra with scallions, ginger and lime), but the veggie torte remained mostly whole in the middle of the table, in its lonely beauty, while we were licking clean the pan of creamed corn.

Fortunately, with a little bit of creativity, I am able to present a usable, delicious recipe that I can fully recommend. I took the remaining torte, chopped it up and tossed it with warm pasta, a little mayonnaise, and some of Alecia's Tomato Chutney, which is a very special condiment made here in Alabama. I crumbled up some leftover queso fresco and lunched on a thoroughly delicious yet ugly plate of veggie pasta goodness.

summer vegetable pasta salad

1/2 recipe yellow squash and bell pepper torte, or sauteed slices of summer veggies
1 1/2 c dried whole wheat rotini or other pasta, cooked until al dente
3 tbsp mayonnaise
3 tbsp Alecia's tomato chutney
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper, or to taste
1/2 c crumbled queso fresco (or mild feta)

Toss warmed veggies, warm pasta, mayonnaise, chutney, salt and pepper. Sprinkle cheese over top.