Pasta salad with chorizo and mascarpone
Pasta combined with delicious crispy baked chorizo. Top that with peas, tomatoes and make a creamy sauce with mascarpone and you have the beginnings of a quick and delicious pasta salad with chorizo.
Pasta salad with chorizo and mascarpone
It’s no secret that I am a big fan of pasta. And pasta salads are among some of my favorite things to make. I love a good pasta salad with gorgonzola for instance or this Greek pasta salad is also another favorite. It’s always easy and super quick to make. On top of that it keeps really well so perfect to bring along for lunch.
​Fun fact
This pasta salad with chorizo has a bit of a fun fact to it. I made this for a radio show here in the Netherlands. I was asked to come on the radio and I had to bring a dish. There was no kitchen in the studio so it had to be easy to prepare upfront. So that was the birth of this delicious pasta salad with chorizo.
​What do you need?
For making this chorizo pasta salad you need the following ingredients:
- chorizo
- pasta
- mascarpone or sour cream
- cherry tomatoes
- green peas
- arugula
- lemon
I like to use a spicy Spanish chorizo for this and for sprinkling on top you can use parmesan cheese but also manchego cheese would be really delicious.
​How to make the pasta salad with chorizo
First of all you start by cooking the pasta al dente. Drain the pasta and rinse with cold water. Add the pasta to a large bowl.
The hero of this dish is of course the crispy chorizo. Now chorizo will release quite a bit of fat when baking, so use a large frying pan and don’t add any oil to it. Let the chorizo bake and release all the fat. Discard the rendered fat and leave to drain on a paper towel to crisp up. For this recipe I have used fresh peas and you can quickly boil them for a few minutes. You can also use frozen peas if fresh are not in season.
Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl as well and mix it together.
​Dressing
To make the dressing, you need the following dressing ingredients: mascarpone, lemon juice, tabasco, olive oil and dijon mustard. You mix it all together into a smooth creamy dressing. If you want to reduce some of the calories you can substitute with sour cream or creme fraiche if you prefer. I like the creaminess of the mascarpone.
If you want it to be a little more pungent you can add a clove garlic to the dressing as well. But remember that raw garlic can be quite strong. And in this cold pasta salad it might be a bit overpowering.
The pasta salad with chorizo is best served at room temperature but can be kept in the fridge quite well in an airtight container.
Additions
A few delicious additions to this pasta salad are for instance, some red peppers, sliced finely. Or add some fresh herbs in the form of fresh basil or fresh parsley. You could also add some delicious kalamata olives to it. Check the full recipe in the recipe card below.
Pasta salad with chorizo and mascarpone
Ingredients
- 150 gr pasta I prefer a smaller type of pasta
- 100 gr sweet green peas
- 150 gr chorizo
- 150 gr cherry tomatoes
- 120 gr mascarpone
- 2 tbsp tabasco
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 lemon juiced
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- 1 handful arugula
- 1 spring onions cut
- parmesan cheese optional
Instructions
- Heat a large pot of salted water and cook the pasta according to package instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water, leave to cool
- Chop your chorizo into smaller bits and heat a frying pan on medium. Bake the chorizo until crispy and leave to drain on kitchen paper.
- Cut your cherry tomatoes into quarters and put into a large bowl. Add the cooled pasta to the bowl as well.
- Quickly cook your frozen peas until they are thawed, drain, rinse and add to the bowl as well.
- Make a sauce by adding the mascarpone, tabasco chipotle, olive oil, lemon juice and dijon mustard together and stir well. Taste and add seasoning where needed. I ended up using about 3/4 of the lemon so just check if it’s to your taste. When you’re ready to serve add the chorizo in and mix it through.
- Plate it up by using a bit of arugula, put the salad on top, sprinkle with some spring onions and parmesan cheese if you want and eat away!
Nutrition Information
Disclaimer
The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.
Great idea! It’s the recipe I needed. Yesterday I recieved as a gift a chorizo (italian “salsiccia”). Didn’t want to eat as usual, with bread and cheese. Thanks for the tip! :-)))
O good! I love frying them as it gets so crispy and delicious if you do. Plus removes a ton of fat…
Congrats on the radio opportunity! I’m sure you’ll have a lot of fun. And this is such a great dish — such a smart idea.
Thanks John. It was a lot of fun indeed!
I have created a similar pasta dish before but never added mascarpone,…what a great & tasty creamy idea!
Yum yum Yuymmm! 🙂 x
Pingback: Blueberry cheesecake and on the radio | Simone's Kitchen