Cherry Mint Summer Pasta Salad

A few weeks back, I had the absolute pleasure of visiting an orchard that is a source of Fred Meyer produce that houses rows and rows of Pacific Northwest cherries ready for the picking. It was just a few winding curves, three sharp turns towards no cell phone reception, and a beautiful viewing of Mt. Hood. It was absolutely magical and about ten other words that describe “breathtaking”.

When I arrived at the cherry orchard I took in all the scenes that were reminiscent of a children’s book. Only one horse on the premises that happens to live amongst a goat, a few chickens, and a rooster. There was no pig or self-publishing spider to be seen, and yes, I searched for them.

But, I did get to meet and chat with the farmer who answered all my long-harboring questions about cherries. If you don’t know by now, I’ve been obsessed with food since my mom put creamed peas on toast some time in 1989 (trust me, it’s good). We walked along a beautiful path that lead to a barn that should belong on a movie set and talked all things farming. Although my one summer of farming can’t quite stand up to the forty plus years this orchard has been rocking and rolling, it didn’t stop me from telling my patented story about the time I picked out all the bad strawberries on a conveyor belt for twelve hours straight which made me nauseated. We all have our war stories.

I found out some pretty interesting facts about our PNW cherries. These particular cherries are grown in Hood River and are irrigated by the snow melt from Mt. Hood. The snow we all snowboard and ski on during the winter is recycled and used for the cherries we eat in the summer. Let me just nerd out on that for a sec.

Okay, I’m back. The great thing about these cherries are that they are picked, packaged, and shipped all within 24 hours! That means when they hit the Fred Meyer shelves, they are as fresh as can be. And, when they are shipped locally, that reduces emissions, insures we are eating the freshest ingredients, and that we are supporting our local economy. All things worth fighting for in my book.

And in the spirit of things that are good in my book, like creamed peas on toast, I’m giving you this recipe for Cherry Mint Summer Pasta Salad. I mean, doing all the sweet things with cherries is great, but don’t you want to try something different? Don’t you want to have something fun to bring to that get-together next week? Shouldn’t we all try new things? I say “yes” to all of the above.

This pasta salad is creamy and tart with pops of sweet corn, and the tart, creamy, taste of goat cheese, and the cherry mint vinaigrette is just the prettiest color. It’s savory and lets the cherries SHINE LIKE DIAMONDS.

Thank you, Fred Meyer, for letting me hang out at the prettiest place on earth and for sponsoring this post.

Cherry Mint Summer Pasta Salad

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This summer’s best pasta salad recipe is the Cherry Mint Summer Pasta Salad. It’s creamy, tart and sweet with pops of corn and savory onion.

• Author: Karlee Flores
• Prep Time: 30 minutes
• Cook Time: 15 minutes
• Total Time: 45 minutes
• Yield: 10 – 12 servings 1x

Ingredients

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3 cups dry pasta

1/4 cup toasted almonds

1 pound cherries pitted, (10 for the dressing, the rest quartered)

1/2 cup diced red onion

1 1/2 cup corn

3 ounces goat cheese crumbles

|| Dressing ||

10 pitted cherries

juice of one large lemon (about 1/4 cup)

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon honey

1/3 cup fresh mint, packed

1 teaspoon salt

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Instructions

Cook pasta to package directions and let cool to room temperature before dressing. Add olive oil and run cold clean water over the pasta and toss to keep from sticking together.

Toast almonds over medium/high heat until slightly browned and set aside.

Pit about a pound of fresh PNW cherries. Set 10 aside for the dressing. Quarter the remaining cherries and dice the onion. In a medium to large bowl, place in the cooled pasta, cherries, onion, corn and goat cheese.

Place the 10 pitted cherries, juice of lemon, apple cider vinegar, sour cream, honey, fresh mint and salt into a blender and blend until the mixture is creamy and the mint is rice sized. Pour over the pasta mixture and stir until well combined.

Top with toasted almonds and enjoy!

Keywords: cherry, mint, pasta, side