Shrimp and artichoke pasta salad

Have you ever ordered something online, clicked to order 1 or 2 of something, only to find out on delivery that you had ordered 1 or 2 cases? We have artichoke bottoms. Jars and jars of artichoke bottoms. Time to see how I might use artichoke bottoms in salads and frittatas.

I was in the mood for a pasta salad. Hadn’t made one in a while. I had previously made a pasta salad with artichoke hearts and chicken and wanted to do something different. Shrimp sounded good. I hadn’t made a pasta salad with shrimp for a while. What else to include? Wanted something that would provide a contrast with the artichoke bottoms, both in color and texture. I had put sun-dried tomatoes in the chicken and artichoke salad and once again I wanted to do something else. I thought of red bell pepper, but I had that in a much earlier shrimp pasta salad. Plus, when I looked online for any ideas in shrimp pasta salad recipes, it seemed like every one included red bell pepper. So not very original. Then I came up with radishes. Certainly meets my objective of contrasting color and texture. And worked really well.

Sometimes when I make a pasta salad I have a very definite idea about what kind of pasta I want to use. Will buy a new box of pasta just for that salad. This time I did not have such an inspriration. So I looked through all of my boxes of pasta in the cupboard and saw the rotella, little wheels. Just the same shape and size as the radish slices. Nice.

For the dressing a chose a simple white wine vinaigrette using canola oil and no mustard. My idea was to include some interesting herbs for the salad. I have lots of herb mixes from Penzy’s spices. These came from my placing an order online quite a while ago. I wanted a number of items from them. But at least at that time, they had a fairly significant charge for shipping that was waived if your order exceeded a certain amount. I decided it made more sense to order a bunch of additional things to try, includes these herb mixes, rather than paying for shipping. I’ve used herbes de Provence in dressings a lot. Time for something different. I went through the herb mixes and chose one called Parisien bonnes herbes. It included chives, dill weed, basil, French tarragon, chervile, and white pepper. I added a full 1/2 teaspoon in the vinaigrette and liked the results.

1 cup pasta, I used rotelle
4–6 ounces shrimp, cooked and cut into pieces if needed
1 cup artichoke bottoms, about 5, cut into pieces
1/2 cup radish slices

3 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon herb mixture such as the Parisien

Earlier in the day, cook the shrimp if using raw shrimp (which I always do). Place the thawed shrimp in boiling water, return to the boil, and cook until pink and curled up, 2 minutes or less. Let cool and refrigerate.

Cook pasta following package directions. Rinse in cold water to cool for salad.

Put the pasta, shrimp, and radishes into a bowl. Whisk or shake in a small jar the oil, vinegar, and herbs. Pour over the salad and mix well. Then add the artichoke bottoms, mix once gently, and serve. (I’m doing it this way to avoid breaking or mashing the pieces of artichoke bottoms.)