Quick pasta Niçoise recipe

A twist on a healthy salad Niçoise, bulked up with pasta for a really filling lunchtime dish.

This quick pasta Niçoise is a brilliant batch-cook dish, and an idea buffet food. The recipe makes eight portions - or more if it's just a side dish alongside some other buffet dishes. Alternatively, it's enough for a filling lunch or a light dinner. Serve it to the family over a couple of nights, or portion it up into lunches for two people, for nearly the whole working week. It's low in fat and calories - only 300 per portion. If eight portions is too many, just halve or quarter the amounts for the ingredients. (You can stick to one clove of garlic, just make it a small one).

Ingredients

• 200g (7oz) short pasta shapes
• 3 eggs, boiled, peeled and cut into wedges
• 200g (7oz) French beans, trimmed and blanched
• 200g (7oz) can tuna, drained and flaked
• 300g (10oz) cherry tomatoes, halved
• 150g (5oz) black olives
• 1 red onion, sliced
• 8 tbsp ready-made vinaigrette
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Method

1. Cook the pasta according to the pack instructions until al dente, then cool under cold water and drain.
2. Place in a large, shallow serving bowl and combine with the remaining main ingredients.
3. Mix the vinaigrette with the garlic and parsley and drizzle over the salad to serve.

Top tip for making quick pasta Niçoise

You can use any short pasta shapes for this pasta, but it's nice to use something with a pretty shape - partly because they look so enticing, but also because they pick up lots of the dressing. Try trotolle (shaped like a spinning top), campanelle (shaped like little bells) or farfalle bows.

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