As it is getting warmer, I'm looking for recipes that don't cause as much heat in my kitchen. A little pasta boiling is about as hot as I'm willing to be on the warmer days.
1 1/2 cups dry large bow-tie pasta
2 cups cantaloupe and/or honeydew melon chunks
1 cup cubed Fontina or Swiss cheese (4 oz)
1/3 cup bottled poppy seed salad dressing
1 to 2 tbsp snipped fresh mint
2 cups watercress, stems removed
Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain in colander; rinse with cold water. Drain.
Toss together pasta, cantaloupe and cheese in a large bowl. Combine salad dressing and mint; pour over pasta mixture, tossing gently to coat. Cover and chill for 2 to 24 hours.
Just before serving, stir watercress into pasta mixture. Add a bit more salad dressing, if needed, to moisten the salad. If desired, garnish with cantaloupe slices.
Serves 8
I had a very hard time finding watercress. Apparently the produce man only orders it during the Christian winter holidays and Thanksgiving. Having found that out, I exchanged mustard greens having read that watercress is a cousin to mustard greens. I can't say how good it would have been with the watercress, but the mustard greens had a slight bite to it. Now that I've made the recipe, I have seen watercress in a decent sized container at Cub Foods, where I had found a container of the organic section. Now I know for next time I have a recipe that calls for the watercress that I have access to it. I was actually able to find the Fontina cheese at my local SuperTarget. It was more expensive than cheese you'd find in the dairy section, but was well worth the extra expense. It was like a Swiss cheese, but with a bite in between a strong Swiss and a baby Swiss.
Flavor Rating: Good, I loved the cheese, but wasn't sure about the greens I had to exchange.
Ease of Preparation: Easy, a little cutting a little boiling.
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