A lot of green onions are used for this salad. Don’t get scared about this, sauteing them down really makes the flavor mild. And no, that’s not lobster or crab bits, it’s apple!
Many times recipes call for using some reserved pasta water, and I ALWAYS forget to save this before straining the pasta. I seem to remember the second I dump the pot into the collander. This calls for the reserved water, but since I forgot it, I just used water and it seemed to turn out just fine.
Also, don’t worry about slicing the onions super thin. They will be pureed later so it doesn’t really matter much. The onions cook down quite a bit. I forgot to take a before picture, but they pretty much filled the entire pan, and after cooking there were just a few large spoonfuls left.
To make the sauce, I used my mini-chopper, since I’m scared of getting my full size food processor dirty. I did it in two batches, just dividing the lemon juice, zest, spices and water for each batch. I stirred them both together at the end. It ends up looking like a pesto sauce with the same consistency.
Inspired by 101cookbooks.
Ingredients
makes 5 servings
1 pound elbow macaroni
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 bunches of thinly sliced green onions
3 medium cloves garlic, chopped
fine grain sea salt
lots of freshly ground black pepper
zest and juice of one lemon
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
5 big handfuls arugula
1 large apple, diced
Cook the macaroni in a large pot of water per package instructions. Set aside at least 1/4 cup pasta water. Then drain pasta and set aside.
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet until hot. Add the green onions, garlic, and a pinch of salt. Cook until the onions soften, and the garlic begins to take on some color, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for a couple minutes.
Use a hand blender or food processor to puree the green onion mixture along with 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, zest of the lemon, half the lemon juice, and the reserved pasta water. If using a mini-chopper, half everything and puree in 2 batches. After it’s pureed, stir in half the parmesan. If sauce seems too thick, thin out with more olive oil or water.
Combine the macaroni with the green onion sauce in a large bowl. Toss well. Chop the apple, and if not eating immediately, toss the diced pieces with some lemon juice. Then add the apple to the pasta mixture. For serving, add a large handful of arugula on each plate and top with the pasta. Sprinkle with more parmesan. If making this as a side dish, you can pre-mix in the arugula with the pasta. Less may be needed in this case.
