Angel Hair Pasta Salad

Angel Hair Pasta Salad


I’ve really got to start cooking from cookbooks again. It’s literally been years since I’ve made something from a cookbook. And it’s not because I don’t have any – trust me. I’ve got more cookbooks than I have room for in my small Brooklyn home. They’re all just sitting there on the shelf, like figurines on display, looking pretty!

I usually only take my cookbooks out on Shabbos, when I browse through them like an old photo album. I drool over the good recipes, sigh over the bad ones, and then return them to the bookshelf. Once in a while I promise myself to try a recipe, but I usually forget or don’t get around to it.

Recently, my Shabbos guest was looking though my cookbook collection and she asked me what my favorite recipes were from some of my cookbooks. It made me realize that cookbooks are not just for browsing – some of them have really good recipes that I should actually be cooking. She told me some of her favorites dishes from the cookbooks we had in common (like Smitten Kitchen, Jerusalem, Plenty, The Kosher Palette, Kosher by Design and others) and I promised myself I would give them a try.

It really hit home this week because for the first time in a while, I was stumped. I had planned on an apple and honey dessert for the blog, but sadly, it flopped (yes, that happens to me!) and I couldn’t think of anything else that I wanted to post. Until, I was speaking to my friend and she mentioned a recipe for angel hair pasta that she was making for dinner. She said it had mushrooms and leeks – and when I heard leeks, I was all over it. My mind started racing, thinking about all the ways I could turn it into a Simanim salad – filled with lots symbolic foods that we eat on Rosh Hashanah.

I went straight for some of my favorite Rosh Hashanah foods – beets and pomegranates – keeping things mess-free with golden beets. The pomegranates add great crunch, and the honey rounds it all out with a hint of sweetness.

So thanks to Dina (and whoever came up with the original recipe), for getting my creative juices flowing again.I can’t wait to dust off my cookbooks and open my eyes (and palate) to a new range of recipes! Shall we call it a New Year’s Resolution?

What are some of your favorite cookbook recipes? Share them in the comments below!

Related Recipes:

Israeli couscous salad with roasted beets, carrots and parsnips
holiday salad with apple and honey vinagrette

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16 thoughts on “Angel Hair Pasta Salad

  1. Love your idea of combining the simanim. One of my favorite recipes is Burnt eggplant with garlic, lemon and pomegranate seeds from Ottolenghi’s “Jerusalem” Cookbook. The eggplant and the lemon go together so well. Have made it without the pomegranate seeds, but it looks so much prettier with them.

  2. I’m JUST the same way! I have this embarrassingly large cookbook collection but I almost never actually cook from them. I read them like you do, and get inspiration from them, but it’s rare that I actually make a recipe from them! This looks lovely. Thanks for sharing.

  3. If I prepare this fresh for a meal and have leftover, can it be used for another meal? Or is it only good fresh??

  4. Pasta recipes are mostly served in my own family restaurant in Brooklyn area. I appreciate you to share this Salad recipe and sure to add this in my Janelle’s Restaurant Menu.

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