Harry's Pasta Salad (gluten-free)

I used to love the pasta salad at Harry's Bar and American Grill in Century City, L.A. (no longer in existence).  Here's an approximation of the recipe.  It's packed with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant veggies.  Using gluten-free pasta is a choice against inflammation and now that the gluten-free pastas taste so good, why not?

Harry's Pasta Salad

1 large tomato chopped medium fine
1/2 cucumber chopped medium fine
1 red bell pepper chopped medium fine
1 green bell pepper chopped medium fine
1 c celery chopped medium fine
4 radishes sliced thin
8 mushrooms sliced thin
4 T capers
30 black nicoise olives
4 cups cooked gluten-free rotello pasta  (I used brown rice pasta)
4 T chopped fresh basil (or more as desired)
4 T chopped fresh parsley (or more as desired)

4 T balsamic vinegar
6 T olive oil
2 T Dijon mustard
2 T fine chopped shallot or freeze dried red onion
Generous freshly ground sea salt and black pepper to taste

Put all the veggies in a bowl with the pasta and mix.  Make the dressing  by whisking together the vinegar, olive oil, mustard, shallots, salt and pepper.  Pour over the pasta and mix.  Adjust salt and pepper as necessary.

Serve on a bed of lettuce--  Even gluten-free pasta has a high carbohydrate count and will quickly convert to sugar in your blood stream.  When this happens your insulin can spike.  This is not a good thing for two reasons.  One, spiking blood sugar tells your body to start storing calories as fat.  Two, it also creates inflammation.

Try not to make a large pile of pasta the focus of your meal.  Serve the pasta salad on a big bed of lettuces or mixed greens and make sure that you treat it as a side dish by adding a protein and some healthy fats to your meal.