Insalata di pasta con patate e gamberetti
Pasta salad with shrimps, potatoes, green beans and mushrooms
Pasta salad with shrimps, green beans, potatoes and porcino mushrooms is an attractive dish for its delicious taste.
It's an exclusive recipe of ours! It's ideal in summer when we prefer cold dishes but you can make it all year, choosing the right ingredients, of course. For example in winter you have to use frozen green beans.
It's a tasty course for a buffet menu, your lunch menu or a barbecue or an outdoor event.
Serve it cold in summer and warm in cold months.
It has only one defect: it's a long-to-do recipe.
The ingredients are: pasta, potatoes, green beans, porcino mushrooms (boletus species) , shrimps,
aromatic herbs (chives, parsley, bay leaf, rosemary and basil) and extra virgin olive oil.
Here's the recipe as we make at our home!
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- 200 g (7 1/4oz) short pasta
- 200 g (7 1/4oz) frozen shrimps
- 250 g (8 3/4oz) potatoes
- 300 g (10 1/2oz) fresh green beans
- 30 g (1 oz) dried porcino mushrooms
- 30 g (1 oz) young fresh onions, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh chives, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 dried bay leaf
- Some basil leaves, if liked
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- Salt
- Time:
preparation: 40 minutes
plus mushroom soaking and shrimp thawing
cooking: 60 minutes
total: 70 minutes - Difficulty:
easy recipe - Nutrition Facts (amount per serving):
Calories: 410 (kCal) 21 % GDA (*) - 1715 (kJ)
Protein: 17.6 (g) 36 % GDA
Total fat: 9.2 (g) 14 % GDA
Total carbohydrate: 54.1 (g) 21 % GDA
Sugars: 4.2 (g) 5 % GDA
The recipe of pasta salad with shrimps, potatoes, green beans and mushrooms
Begin with the shrimps. Thaw the shrimps at room temperature. You need about two hours. But if you haven't enough time you can put them under running water or in a bowl with warm water for a quick thaw. But both these thaws don't help to preserve their taste.
What about an overnight thaw in the fridge? It would be better, clearly.
Reconstitute the mushrooms. Re-hydrate the mushrooms in warm water for at least an hour or until they have softened.
Prepare the green beans. Clean, wash and steam the green beans.
Let them cool and then pass through a food mill. Put apart.
Cook the mushrooms. Saute the onion in a tablespoon olive oil on low heat.
Meanwhile squeeze the mushrooms to remove any excess liquid and cut into little pieces if too big.
Add the mushrooms to the sauted onion, let all the ingredients flavor for a minute, stirring now and then. Then pour in some soaking liquid and hot water to cover
the mushrooms. Season to taste with salt, add the bay leaf and keep on cooking for about 15-20 minutes or until tender, stirring now and then. Add other warm water if necessary.
Let the cooking juice reduce very well. Add the parsley one minute before switching off the gas. Stir and put apart.
Cook the potatoes. Put a tablespoon olive oil in a little non-stick frying pan and the potatoes cut into little pieces. Sprinkle with rosemary and fry lightly on low heat until tender, stirring frequently. The potatoes must be golden and crunchy. Switch off the gas and seaon to taste with salt.
Put them apart.
You need about 15 minutes or less, it depends on the potato-piece size.
Cook the pasta. Cook the pasta al dente stage in abundant salt water (in which you can add the remaining soaking liquid after filtering) following the directions on the package or our instructions.
Drain the pasta and run under cold water in order to stop cooking, drain again.
The last steps. Transfer the pasta into a large bowl. Add the mushrooms and potatoes with all their cooking juices, a tablespoon olive oil and chives. Stir with delicacy and put apart.
Transfer the pureed green beans in the pan where you've cooked the mushrooms or potatoes and let the green beans thicken, stirring frequently. You needn't add any oil. Season to taste with salt and add the shrimps a minute before switching off the gas. Let all cool.
Then add to the bowl and stir.
Add also some basil leaves, cut by hands, if you like.
Wait at least 30 minutes before serving.
Note
- - We used malloreddus or Sardinian dry dumplings, a typical pasta of Sardinia but you can use the short pasta you prefer (penne, rotini, fusilli ...)
- - For a quicker recipe: use frozen green beans and mushrooms, dried chives and parsley.
- - Pasta salad with shrimps, potatoes, mushrooms and green beans is a long-to-do recipe. Our tip is not making it for a normal weekday lunch menu. On the contrary it is perfect for your Sunday lunch menu when you have more time and you'd like to prepare something special for your family. It can also be a tasty idea for a barbecue or an outdoor event such as a picnic.
We remember pasta salad is a perfect choice if you plan a buffet menu all year.
Test the warm version in cold months. You have only to warm up the pasta combined with all its ingredients in a non-stick frying pan on high heat for a couple of minutes, stirring with delicacy. In Italy we call it "ripassare la pasta in padella". It's fantastic! - - Here are other recipes to combine with this one if you're planning a summer party!
- - If you make this pasta salad recipe for your family it's a tasty one-plate meal and serves four people. If you add it to other courses in a complete menu this recipe serves more people (up to 8 or more people)
- - What are the most important rules to make a tasty pasta salad? Read more ...
Healthy eating
- - Pasta salad is a dish rich in ingredients and so it is necessary to calculate the right amount of everything we use not to exceed calories, fat and sugars.
- - Daily menu. Note the amount of calories and the combination of its ingredients. It can be only one-plate meal. Complete your meal with fresh seasonal vegetable if you are still hungry and fruit.
We remember pasta should be eaten preferably at lunch and the calories eaten at lunch should be 500 - 700 (30 - 35% of energy needs for an adult if his daily needs are about 2000 calories and he correctly divides his calories into 5 micro-meals).
Here are the doses per head: 50 g (1 3/4oz) pasta, 50 g (1 3/4oz) frozen shrimps, 10 g (1/2oz) dried mushrooms, 60 g (2 1/4oz) potatoes, 80 to 100 g (2 3/4oz to 3 1/2oz) green beans, aromatic herbs and less than one tablespoon olive oil. - - Special occasion menu. Don't worry about fat, calories, sugars ... it happens rarely, doesn't it?
- - As you can see it's a tomato-free recipe, ideal for people intolerant or allergic to tomatoes.
- - If you want to drink a glass of wine remember you have to add 80-85 kCal per 100 ml.
- - If you want to know more about Italian pasta and its nutrition value read this page.
- - We remember you our original home recipes can be made without salt; there is a combination of flavours that substitutes salt. Other salt-free recipes ...
What's the right wine ?
Our suggestion is: a rosé wine such as Corvo rosa (wine of Sicily) or a young red wine
The author Loretta Sebastiani lives in Italy (IT)
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