Janet's Appetizer Pasta Shells

Peggy Lampman | Contributor

I regularly get together with various groups of friends, especially during the summer. I wish I could say they're book clubs but frankly, they're eating clubs. Most of us have jobs outside the home and though we love to eat, finding the time to cook is often a challenge. Especially when a potluck is scheduled 30 minutes following a 10-hour work day.

But if uber-busy Janet Nacu can find time to make this, most anyone can. The original recipe calls for Italian sliced salami, which she omitted. If desired, freshly made pesto tossed with a bit of olive oil would be a good substitute for the Caesar dressing.

Janet tells me she's also stuffed chilled pasta shells with prepared tabouli, instead of the chopped salad, purchased from Whole Foods; even quicker to make than the recipe below. It seems to me shrimp or chicken salad would also be great as a pasta shell stuffer. What a easy idea for an appetizer — a pasta salad that doesn't require cutlery!

Susan, Terri, Marty, Janet & Alesia

Peggy Lampman | Contributor

She adapted this Italian salad in shells recipe from the web site, Skinny Kitchen. The website also suggests stuffing the salad in endive leaves as an alternative to the pasta shells. I've done that before with Blue Cheese-Cherry Chicken Salad — quite good!

Yield: 24 stuffed shells
Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

24 jumbo pasta shells
3 cups romaine lettuce, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in quarters
1 cup cucumbers, peeled, seeded and chopped
2/3 cup (about 20) Kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
1/2 cup garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1-1 1/2 cup chilled homemade or bottled Caesar Salad Dressing, such as Cardini's

Instructions

1. Cook the shells according to package directions. Rinse in cold water.
2. In a large bowl, combine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, beans and Parmesan.
4. Toss with 1 cup dressing; adding additional dressing to taste. Season with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, if needed; stuff each cooked shell and serve.