Recipe: Spring Vegetable Salad

This salad makes a lovely main dish for dinner. Easy to throw together—the only cooking is boiling your pasta and veggies.

It's just perfect for Spring! Enjoy.

Tortellini and Spring Vegetable Salad
Serves 3-4 as a main dish or 6 for a side dish

8 ounces fresh stuffed tortellini (like cheese or pesto)--you can use dried pasta but the fresh has a better flavor in a cold salad
1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup peas, fresh or frozen
3 cups fresh spinach
4 radishes, sliced
1 tablespoon fresh chives, chopped (or green onions, sliced)
1/4 cup pine nuts
about 5 ounces goat cheese, plain or herb and garlic (*see note)
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

You can be very flexible in prepping this salad but these are the instructions from the website I found this recipe on:

Bring a pot of water to a boil, salt. Meanwhile, prepare an ice bath (a big bowl of ice water) and prep the vegetables.

When the water is boiling, add the tortellini. It will cook in about 5 minutes (if it's fresh--or follow package directions). After 3 minutes, add the asparagus. Add the peas for the last 30 seconds.

Strain the pasta and vegetables and place immediately into the ice bath. Once they've cooled, strain again and pour into a mixing bowl. Add the spinach, radish, chives, pine nuts and goat cheese. Toss with vinegar and oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

*Note: Since I had plain goat cheese I added a minced garlic clove to the dressing and some dried basil and parsley. 

Recipe from theKitchn