20 Comments

This recipe looks great except that I hate zucchini (and not a fan of summer squash or really fennel bulb). Do you think something like eggplant would work here or would it add too much flavor and/or be a little too mushy for the salad?

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I’ve made this several times now and once with eggplant because that’s what I had that day - I can verify that this pasta salad is equally fantastic with eggplant.

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That looks great. I will try to make it just as written. Do you think that a variation with oyster mushrooms would be good? Or could you consider a vegetarian dish staring oyster mushrooms for a future Newsletter or Home Movie? The oyster mushrooms at the farmers market just look so beautiful. Thank you.

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You need to get an affiliate link to all clad. I bet people would buy your kitchen stuff.

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What is the pepper grinder that you use? It seems to work so well, while mine gives me such an arm workout!

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It’s the Unicorn pepper mill! I can confirm it’s so good! I bought it after it seeing Alison use it too: http://www.unicornmills.org/magnum.html

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Thank you!

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Holy smokes! Just made this and it rocks. I'm cleaning out the fridge for our our holiday weekend trip so I added tomatoes. I also went nuts with the capers and parmesan because I love both. Salty, savory deliciousness. Thank you, Alison!

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This is so SO delicious!!! And very foxy when plated Wow!

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I added eggplant with the zucchini because my eggplant was about to go bad. This a great meal!!

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Made this today but cut in half for just the two of us. Loved it, but next time will add more zucchini and walnuts.

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I cannot get over how good this salad is, holy shit. Wow, those walnuts in all their toasty glory are the chef’s treat here. It took all my willpower to not eat them all before the toss. Those and the capers together, oh my goddess, just extraordinary. Well done. Thanks for this! ❤️

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Wasn't a fan of pasta salad before I met this one! Made it for the 4th time last night, and added lightly charred snap peas.

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I have made this once with parsley and mint as the spriggy, leafy herbs, and once with parsley and dill. I must say that I think the dill should not be optional. It is a very important part of the flavor palette and played nicer with the capers, lemon, and zucchini (in my opinion).

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Wow. I was having a bad day and made this sans pasta to accompany your butter/dill/lemon salmon and it totally turned my day around. What a great combination of dishes! Hooray for self-care cooking.

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The oil toasted walnuts are HEAVEN. I'll eat that as a snack all day. I've made this for a party and just as a meal prep thing to have for work lunches. Keeper!

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Late to the party - just made this. I *love* all pasta salads, but this is too good to be considered pasta salad!

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I’ve made this a few times and it’s perfect! Just made it with feta instead of parmesan and it was amazing - I forgot the capers and didn’t even miss them.

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Before I close this tab (after going back to this recipe yesterday), I'll add my rave review of this recipe, even though it may be old news by now. I've made this salad many times and with many variations (summer squash instead of zucchini; bow tie pasta; olives not capers; additional pan fried egg plant, etc.), and it's always a winner. The herbs, cheese, walnuts, and fresh scallion are the non-negotiable ingredients IMHO. :-)

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