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The Best Creamy Pasta Salad

What you need: 

1 pound chunky pasta (like fusilli)
1 large tomato, seeded and diced
1/2 cucumber, diced with or without skin
1 avocado, diced
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup Spanish olives, chopped
1/4 cup red onion, chopped
1/4 cup tahini
1 cup red wine vinegar, to taste
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

What you do: 

1. Boil pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse well with cold water when tender. Set aside. Sprinkle avocado with lemon juice.
2. Place vegetables in a large salad bowl. Make dressing by combining tahini, vinegar, oil, and lots of salt and pepper in a small bowl. Whisk until smooth.
3. Add cooled pasta to vegetables in bowl, then add dressing. Mix gently until well combined. Serve with a bit of salt and pepper on top. Leftovers should be refrigerated (there are never any at my house).
I like my pasta salad tangier, but if you like creamier, increase tahini and decrease vinegar.

Preparation Time: 
30 mins
Cooking Time: 
Servings: 
6-8
Recipe Category: 

SO HOW'D IT GO?

Awesome! I needed to make something for christmas that didn't need to be warmed up and that omni people would like. This was perfect!! I loved it and everyone at dinner loved it too. My avocado was not ripe yet, so I had to leave that out. Was great without it. I did use a little more tahini. I will be making this again for the summer time. Thanks! ;D

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Yeah maybe I just don't like that much red wine vinegar ( i also used less than 1/2 cup) but it was too STRONG). I threw it out...sorry.

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I don't know if Red Wine Vinegar is quite the right thing, I used much less than called for but it still tasted kind of sour....not bad, reasonably edible, but not an outstanding flavour either , very "vinegary". I don't know whether the quality of the Red Wine Vinegar makes a difference... the one I used had been sitting in our pantry for a long time (does vinegar go bad??).  I may experiment with substituting the Red Wine Vinegar for something else.
Otherwise it was good. I took it to a party and everyone seemed to think it was okay. It's healthy that's the main thing!

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So this is my new favorite recipe on this site. Seriously, amazing! I put maaaybe 1/2 cup of red wine vinegar in because really I tend to hate it, but that was just enough to make it slightly tangy but keep the creaminess of the tahini. I LOVE this recipe.

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i wish i wouldve remembered to use less vinegar like the reviewer before me cus this was waaaay to strong tasting.  even when i added more tahini the sauce just really overpowered everything with such a tangy/sour flavor.  i ended up adding an entire container of dill flavored hummus to try to cut it down, it helped but it was still too strong. 

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This has become my standard potluck/BBQ/picnic dish to make.  Everyone loves it, and most importantly *I* love it.  :)  I almost always use less vinegar than what's called for, and add many more veggies, according to what I have in the house.  It's always a different dish, which is cool.  Many thanks to the OP of this recipe - I'd never thought to use tahini this way before! 

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I love this recipe!  It was a hit at a bbq I went to the first time I made it.  Now its my standard summer party dish -- a hit among vegans and omnivores alike!

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