Chauchalaj is chef Mica Najmanovich’s cold take on farfalaj, the toasted egg pasta traditionally served hot in Ashkenazi Jewish cooking. Here, the farfalaj is tossed with green beans, spring onion, mint, parsley, feta, and lemon for a bright, herbaceous salad that works particularly well as part of a Rosh Hashanah or other High Holiday meal.

Serves 4-6

For the salad

200 g farfalaj (preferably Yanovsky)
100 g spring onion greens, finely sliced
150 g green beans
30 g mint, finely chopped
50 g parsley, finely chopped
100 g feta, grated
2 lemons, zest and juice

For the vinaigrette

25 ml white vinegar
150 ml olive oil
25 ml lemon juice
Salt
Black pepper

Step One
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the farfalaj and cook as you would pasta until tender. Drain, spread the farfalaj out on a tray, and leave to cool, stirring occasionally so it doesn’t stick together.

Step Two
Meanwhile, blanch the green beans. Bring a pot of generously salted water to a boil and prepare a bowl of ice water. Add the green beans to the boiling water and cook for 1 minute. Drain and immediately transfer them to the ice water to stop the cooking. Once cool, drain well and finely chop the beans into pieces roughly the same size as the farfalaj.

Step Three
Make the vinaigrette by combining the vinegar, olive oil, and lemon juice. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.

Step Four
In a large bowl, combine the cooled farfalaj, green beans, spring onion, mint, parsley, and feta. Add the lemon zest and dress with the vinaigrette to taste. Toss well to combine.

Step Five
Serve cold, preferably on a flat plate so that all the colors and ingredients remain visible.