Pasta Salad with Sun-dried Tomato Dressing

I recently returned from a trip at home.  It was great to catch-up with family and prepare meals with the people I love most in the world.  Given the gorgeous weather, most of our meals involved cooking on the grill, sweet corn, and salad.

This time of year it is a wonderful treat that all the produce requires such little effort to taste amazing.  It also seems so easy to fill more than half our plates with fruits and vegetables.

One evening a pasta salad was requested.  How could I not oblige?  We filled ours with cucumber, tomatoes, green peppers, red onion, and fresh herbs with some pasta thrown in.  The dressing though made the whole dish seem new and revived.

I find that with classic recipes, like pasta salad, is the perfect place to inject some new flavors.  This dressing was quick to prepare in the blender and used mostly pantry items.  I think it would taste delicious over a salad or grilled chicken too!

Sun-dried Tomato Dressing

1/4 cup of sun-dried tomato halves packed in oil

2 TBS of oil from tomatoes

2 TBS of red wine vinegar

1 TBS of sherry vinegar

1/2 tsp of salt

1/2 tsp of fresh black pepper

1 TBS of local honey

1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil

Add the tomatoes, oil from the tomatoes, vinegar, salt, black pepper, and honey in a blender.  Pulse until a coarse paste forms.  With the blender running, slowly stream in the olive oil.  Taste to be sure the seasonings are correct.  Use as you wish.  Enjoy!