About this time of year, I start longing for the warmer spring days, and I am really over the cold of winter. This has been an odd year for us here in Northern Nevada; up until a few weeks ago we had no snow on the Sierra and that was depressing.

Cold without snow just does not seem right. And while our winter has been warmer this year, I still find myself ready for spring.

Unfortunately, this year Punxsutawney Phil proclaimed, “Many shadows I do see, so six more weeks of winter it must be!”

Not the news I was looking for right now. Being from Pennsylvania I have close ties with the groundhog tradition, one of my cousins even sends out a Groundhog's Day card in place of the traditional holiday cards. So, I guess you can say I watch to see the 125 year-old-groundhog's “prognostication.” However, this year I have decided to bet against Phil.

To alleviate my yearning for warmer days, I thought of pasta salad. This was a recipe I thought up last summer, while a friend of mine and I were roaming the farmer's market. She recalled one of the vendors who made a pasta salad with pesto and toasted pine nuts. My friend said sometimes that salad was her only reason for going to the market. However, there was no sign of the pesto and toasted pine nut salad in sight; so we decided to make our own version. Since I came up with this recipe in the middle of summer, the height of the farmer's market season, the ingredients are not all in season at the moment. However, substituting sun-dried tomatoes and using a store bought pesto for tomatoes and fresh basil pesto will do just fine.

Pesto Pasta Salad

1 pound pasta (For this recipe, I used campenelli. Pesto clings best to textured pastas — getting in all the nooks and crannies)

8 ounces fresh bocconcini mozzarella (fresh mozzarella) (another idea is ricotta salata, which is a soft cheese, but it is more hard than the ricotta you use for stuffed shells and lasagna. It is similar to the consistency of feta cheese)

1 cup pesto (homemade or your favorite store bought)

1 cup sliced grape tomatoes (or 1⁄2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes)

1⁄2 very finely sliced red onion

1⁄4 cup toasted pine nuts

Cook pasta according to directions on the box, making sure to season the water generously with salt — think sea water. The only opportunity to infuse the pasta with flavor is while it is cooking.

While the pasta is cooking, toast the pine nuts, thinly slice the onions and cut up the tomatoes. I like to quarter the tomatoes and the larger tomatoes I will cut the quarters in half.

For the cheese, I pull pieces off the ball of cheese rather than cutting it, that gives the pieces a “rustic” feel and the chucks of cheese wrap around the pasta.

Once the pasta is done cooking, strain it and rinse it immediately with cold water. Add the pesto and stir until all the pasta is coated. Then add the onion, tomatoes and cheese and toss.

Sprinkle the top with toasted pine nuts and garnish with fresh basil leaves.

• Amanda Skiba is passionate about cooking and posts her favorite recipes at www.stuffurface.wordpress.com.