It is St. Patrick's Day today and I am in full on drink Guinness and turn all of my food green mode. I will take absolutely any and every opportunity to theme a dish. So, I get pretty excited about holidays from a culinary standpoint. St. Patrick's Day is one of the more fun food holidays because it has less pressure than the big family events and provides the perfect excuse to dye everything green! There are a plethora of naturally green foods that I'm a big fan of. Cucumbers, pickles, and avocados are all naturally green and make frequent appearances in my food. But for St. Patrick's Day? There's almost nothing better than spinach. It's a bright green color that, when puréed, will turn absolutely everything a fun green hue. I used it last year to make green mashed potatoes for Shepherd’s Pie w/ Spinach Mashed Potatoes & Guinness. This year I'm going a little bit simpler with Spinach Pasta Salad. Dyed green, of course.
I didn't originally know what I was going to make today. It's been quite the busy week and the holiday snuck up on me! So, I found myself absolutely unprepared this morning for it to actually be St. Patrick's Day. I had no food in the house and spent the vast majority of my day grocery shopping and running errands. I started out with getting new sneakers while I debated what to make this afternoon. Still didn't figure out it. Went to Costco and just generally bought spinach... But still didn't know what to make. Went back home. And still didn't know what to make. So, I walked to my local grocery store and just walked around the produce aisle in circles until I finally decided to go with potato salad. Although I didn't quite have enough potatoes. So, now there is pasta in it, too! With Guinness, of course. Because I do rather like dark beer and it always goes on sale this time of year.
Gallery
Variations of Spinach Pasta Salad
Pasta salad is a great way to eat something described as as "salad," without actually having to eat nothing but lettuce. Really "salad" is kind of a misnomer. The kinds of salads that I make very rarely even contain lettuce and rather resemble a full meal more than anything that I'd ever order in a restaurant! They're also much simpler to make and can be thrown together with just about any fresh fruits or vegetables. Much of the time I turn these into vermicelli salads. Vermicelli is an Italian brown rice noodle that I oftentimes turn into a sort of Asian-inspired pasta salad with tamari, rice vinegar, and tahini. I also make a plethora of fresh salads with a similar amount of cucumbers, tomatoes, and avocados. Although this just goes to show how much the sky is the limit! And that fresh produce and "salads" don't have to be boring.
This St. Patrick's Day Spinach Pasta Salad consists of naturally green Spinach Greek Yogurt Sauce, potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, and avocados. The sauce is made up of spinach, Greek yogurt, dill pickles, shallots, garlic, and freshly squeezed lemon juice. All combined together for a fun holiday dish that pairs well with a side of Guinness on an almost Spring day.
This can be made several hours or days beforehand. You also will only need about half of it if you want to cut the recipe down. I recommend chilling the sauce for at least an hour to let the flavors meld together. Although this is entirely optional! You can absolutely make everything at once and it will still turn out.The entire dish is also a good recipe to make a day or two ahead of time. Just don't add the tomatoes, cucumbers, and avocado until you're ready to serve. Everything else can be pre-made, though!
Add all of the ingredients to a food processor and pulse until puréed completely.Alternatively, you can mince all of the ingredients by hand. This is really a matter of personal preference. I sometimes prefer a chunkier sauce and did end up cutting up some of the produce here by hand. Although some people prefer a smoother consistency and it certainly saves time to toss everything into the food processor! If it weren't a lazy St. Patrick's Day afternoon? I likely would have gone the entirely puréed route.
Chill in the refrigerator.
Cook Pasta
Add about 4 inches of water to a large pot and bring to a boil over high heat.
Cook pasta according to the manufacturer's instructions. This typically entails boiling for about 8-12 minutes, or until al dente.
Remove from heat and chill in the refrigerator.
Cook Potatoes
Return the pot to a boil.You can drain the pasta water and start again or strain out the pasta and re-use the same water. It's all going into the same dish!
Dice the potatoes into 1/4 inch pieces.
Boil for 10-15 minutes, or until tender. You should be able to stick a fork in them and have it break in two pieces. They're not quite cooked if the fork comes out cleanly. And they're overdone if it breaks apart completely, instead of just in half.
Remove from heat, drain, and chill in the refrigerator.
Pasta Salad
Once all of the ingredients have chilled, combine everything together in a large bowl and serve.It can help to mix all of the other ingredients well and then gently add in the avocado. This will prevent the soft avocado from disintegrating into the salad!
Tips, Tricks, & Notes
For a gluten-free Potato Salad recipe, omit the pasta and double the amount of potatoes. I almost did make a potato salad today, instead of pasta salad. Although I didn't quite have enough potatoes to make that work! And both are absolutely delicious.
Feta is also a great cheese to add to this kind of salad. I would mix it in on top with the avocado. You can add cheese earlier in the process and it will taste the same. Although I like to be able to see the feta and it does tend to get lost in the mix!
I also have a more in-depth article on how to make Green Tartar Sauce w/ Greek Yogurt & Spinach. This takes about 15 minutes to toss together and is a great alternative for Mayonnaise-free tartar sauce or even just a spinach dip for any occasion.
This Page Contains Edited Images
As a general rule, I don't like to edit images. Food styling, editing, alteration, and even faking entirely is just as rampant a problem in the recipe realm. Cooking is a very visual art and you can tell when a lot of foods are cooked based on the color. So, when this is altered and you can't use the coloration as a gauge, it makes it quite difficult to follow some recipes. I have an entire article about Food Styling and Unrealistic Expectations of Recipes. My place has very warm lighting, though. So, sometimes my camera overcompensates and ends up with an unnatural hues. I've adjusted the hues, levels, and/or cropped the following images:
Leave a Reply