Easy Acini de Pepe Salad

A salad does not always have to be vegetable and/or fruit based.  Most salads are very easy recipes.  While it is true that many are vegetable based, some of our favourite salads are pasta or potato based with added vegetables.  These salads include the traditional tuna fish salad and potato salad.  Pasta based salads are quite versatile as a wide range of pasta shapes lend themselves nicely as a base for salads.

I made an easy acini de pepe salad to complement left over chicken breasts and grilled corn on the cob.  I cut the grilled corn on the cob off the cob then froze to see how that would affect the flavour and texture when reheated.  I must say I was quite impressed with the results so will be freezing corn that way this year.

Acini de pepe is a pasta often used in Italian wedding soup.    It gets it's name for the Italian term for peppercorns.  When cooked acini de pepe is a bit smaller than peppercorns.  I think it has a lovely mouth feel, little balls of pasta.  Acini de pepe if lovely to use as a moldable salad similar to what you would do using rice.  I cooked the acini de pepe to al denté then drained and cooled the pasta.  I stirred in an Italian viniagrette.  I molded the pasta then placed on a bed of lettuce and topped with cherry tomatoes from the garden and chopped green onion.  It was a delightful pasta based salad!