Pasta South West Salad ?
 

I was at a covered dish event and had a south west pasta salad that had a creamy type dressing on it. It had black beans, corn and several fresh vegies in it. Any ideas? It was wonderful and would be so good for the summer.

Here are 2 versions:

Southwestern Pasta Salad with Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing
~ foodislikeart.blogspot.com

For the Salad:

12 ounces rotini, boiled and cooled
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup corn kernels
1 medium green or red bell pepper, chopped
1 cup monterey jack cheese cubes
1/2 cup sliced olives
1 avocado, cut into chunks

For the Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing:

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lime juice
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 bunch cilantro, majority of the stems removed
1/2 cup sour cream

Combine all of the ingredients for the salad.
In a blender (or in a bowl with an immersion blender) combine the olive oil, lime juice, chili powder, cumin, garlic, salt and cilantro and puree until smooth. (It won't be particularly pretty). Whisk in the sour cream. Pour over pasta mixture and fold in until evenly coated.

Notes:
-It's a good idea to add the avocado as late as possible so that it doesn't brown.
-I've made this lots of time without the sour cream and it's really good. So if you're trying to be healthy or prefer your pasta salads more vinaigrette-y you can totally leave it out.
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SOUTHWEST PASTA SALAD Makes 8 Servings
Ingredients
• 1 box (12 oz.) pasta of your choice
• 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
• 1 large sweet onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 avocado, diced
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 to 2 jalapeno chiles, seeded and chopped
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 cup tomato salsa
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
________________________________________Directions
1. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain. Rinse with cold water; drain again. In large serving bowl combine pasta, tomatoes, bell pepper, onion, avocado, cilantro and jalapeno.
2. For dressing, in small bowl whisk together mayonnaise, salsa, lime juice and salt. Add to pasta mixture; toss gently. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate to chill.

Thanks! I will give them a try. Have you tried them?

This looks so good, I'm going to try making it today and serve tomorrow.

Oh yum - can't wait to try these recipes!

sharon1 - No I have not tried them yet. I saved them both from the Internet for "someday" as they sounded delish.

Tried the SW Pasta Salad with Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing. It's marinated 16+ hours, so the flavors have melded. It's good...no avocado (we don't have a taste for it), but kept everything else the same, including the sour cream. I think it would taste better if it's not served cold right from the fridge. Company will let me know their thoughts in about 6 more hours. i'm more into quinoa than pasta, so that may be my problem.

I did the first one and used taco seasoning instead of chili powder. It was quite good. Coopah, what did your company think of it?