Roasted Potato, Cucumber and Parsley Pasta Salad

Bear with me folks. You’re just going to have to trust me on this one.  Until you try it for yourself, that is.

I opened the fridge today to see what was available and surprise!  There wasn’t much.  We had cucumbers, potatoes, and celery that needed to be used – so here’s what we did.

• Two pounds of rotini
• a huge bag of potatoes
• five cloves of garlic
• two cucumbers
• quite a bit of celery
• a bunch of parsley
• extra virgin olive oil
• white balsamic vinegar
• one large shallot
• salt and pepper

Line a baking sheet with foil and set the oven for 400*. Wash and dry the potatoes and then cut into bite size pieces.  Put them on the baking sheet, chop the garlic, finely and add that to the sheet.  Liberally douse the mixture with olive oil, toss, and cook 40-60 minutes, or until the potatoes start to get golden brown.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely to room temperature.

Cook the pasta according to package directions, drain and cool (I like to place the full colander inside a large bowl of ice water).

Chop the cucumber, celery and parsley and transfer to a large lidded bowl.

In a small bowl combine equal parts (3/4 cup each) olive oil and vinegar, chop the shallot finely, add that the the dressing mixture and whisk.

When the potatoes are cool, add them and the pasta to the cucumber/celery/parsley mixture and dress.  If you have too much dressing, just refrigerate the leftover it’s good on everything!

Chill for a bit, salt and pepper to taste and serve -