Spring Pasta Salad with Penne, Fingerling Potatoes and Dill

As I’ve said before, I love pasta salads. There’s so much you can do with them by incorporating different ingredients and flavors. They’re so versatile too. They can be a main dish or side dish, or both. They help stretch the budget and feed a crowd as well.

This pasta salad features fingerling potatoes and is kind of a take and a twist on potato salad. It goes really well with grilled meats as a side dish and would be great to take along to a potluck.

My youngest son really loves this salad. It’s full of fresh flavors, like fresh lemon juice, lemon zest, garlic and fresh dill. It’s got a slight crunch with the asparagus and saltiness of shaved parmesan cheese. I love the bright purple color of the fingerling potatoes. The bag I bought was a mixture of gold, red and purple. When they cook, the color intensifies.

Check out these pasta salads: Italian Pasta Salad, Shrimp Pasta Salad, Spicy Peanut Chicken Udon Noodle Pasta Salad.

What’s your favorite pasta salad?

Print Recipe

Spring Pasta Salad with Penne, Fingerling Potatoes and Dill

Servings: 12 main dish or 24 side dish servings

Author: Jennifer Locklin

Ingredients

• 1 pound Penne pasta
• 2 pounds Fingerling potatoes halved, boiled and cooled
• 4 green onions thinly sliced
• 1 bunch Asparagus blanched and cooled
• 1/2 cup shaved Parmesan cheese
• 
  
• Dressing:
• 1 lemon zested
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1/2 cup fresh dill minced
• 1 teaspoon sugar

Instructions

• Place the potato halves in a large pot and fill with cold water enough to just cover the potatoes.
• Cook over medium heat until fork-tender, about 20 to 25 minutes.
• Drain well, spread onto a rimmed baking sheet and refrigerate until cold.
• Cut the bottom fibrous portion of asparagus off and discard, about an inch.
• In a large pot of salted, boiling water, blanch the asparagus by lowering it into the boiling water and cooking for 2 minutes.
• Remove from boiling water and immediately plunge the asparagus into ice water to stop the cooking process and chill; set aside.
• Cook the penne pasta according to package directions.
• When al dente, drain and run under cold water until thoroughly cooled. Place pasta into a large mixing bowl.
• In a medium jar with a tight fitting lid, combine all dressing ingredients and shake well to combine.
• Add cooked potatoes, asparagus and green onion to the pasta and toss lightly to combine.
• Dress with desired amount of dressing and toss to coat.
• Stir in shaved parmesan.
• Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.
• Serve at room temperature or cold.

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