This was a bona-fide hit at our ChristmaHanuKwaanzaKah dinner. (Since we were kind of burned out on “traditional” food after Thanksgiving, we made mostly non-traditional dishes for Dec. 25—or traditional foods with a “twist,” such as this one.) I omitted the salt, and didn't find that the dish suffered at all for it—though I did salt the cooking water, and flavored it with vegetable broth (non-vegetarians could try chicken or even beef broth; it adds a nice layer of flavor/seasoning). They were delicious straight out of the fridge (since I made them ahead), tossed again to make sure the dressing was well distributed, but I bet they would be great served hot as well. I think it would be nice with a touch of ginger, but since I only had ground, I skipped it; next time I'll try adding a little. I also used about half apple-cider vinegar and half rice-wine vinegar; that definitely helped push it over into more “Asian” flavors. Just as an FYI for anyone who has never toasted seeds, I failed miserably when I tried to toast my sesame seeds, and burned them; since I only had *just* enough unburned ones left, I decided to skip it, and added them “raw.” I'm sure toasting them would add more depth of flavor, but the dish did not seem to be worse off without it. I would not recommend this recipe for someone who doesn't like sesame oil, as one reviewer noted, since fully 1/3 of the oil *IS* sesame. It’s a very strong flavor. I suppose you could try a higher ratio of canola oil

Reviewed On: Dec. 26, 2008

This is very similar to Macaroni Grill's Farfalle Renaldo, which hasn't been on the menu in years, and which I miss terribly. I made this with kalamata (Greek) olives, in order to attempt to duplicate the Grill's version, and it was pretty darn close! I normally, er, mess with recipes a great deal, adding extra seasonings, etc., but I didn't add anything to this, except some sautéed baby portabella mushrooms that I needed to get rid of. This was very fast and simple to make, and quite delicious - even vegetarian. My (carnivore) husband raved!

Reviewed On: Nov. 3, 2006