A super simple and delicious pasta salad you can enjoy for dinner or quickly throw together for a potluck/family meal.

This can be as low effort as you want it to be or you can make the extra effort to make your own pesto, it will be delicious, and impressive, regardless!

What you need:

• 2 cups small pasta, any shape will do!
• 1 cup pesto, fresh is best but jarred is fine too
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• 1/2 pint sliced cherry or grape tomato
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced shallot
• 2-3 tbsp fresh parsley, minced
• 4 leaves of fresh basil, minced (either of the fresh herbs can be committed but are recommended)
• salt and pep to taste

1. Boil your pasta until al dente and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process, drain well and place in a large bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
2. Taste before you add your salt and pepper. The pesto and cheese are very flavourful so be careful! Keep in mind that as pasta salads sit, they tend to absorb flavour and the longer they sit the more muted they can become, so lean towards the stronger.

Pesto can oxidize and turn brown so try to enjoy this as soon as you can!