Pasta Salad
4 JULY 2018
pasta salad
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Who doesn’t love enjoying a cold, refreshing pasta salad during the hot summer months? This recipe is easy to make, and even easier to eat!
This pasta salad has something for everyone — a little meat, a little cheese, a little vegetable — what’s not to love? The nuts and bolts of this recipe are prepping the ingredients and cooking the noodles. I like tri-color Rotini noodles because they’re pretty and make me think “cold pasta”.
PASTA SALAD: It’s All In The Prep
You’ll need to slice the grape tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and black olives, and dice up a bell pepper and a broccoli crown into small, bite-size pieces. I used a block of slice-able mozzarella, but provolone or really any mild chunk-able cheese will work. Chunked salami or pepperoni work equally well.
While you’re prepping all this, be sure to cook the pasta noodles “al dente” so that they don’t end up soggy in the pasta salad. Also make sure to let them cool completely before adding to the rest of your ingredients! Otherwise, you’ll end up with melted cheese and everything will stick together.
Once everything is mixed together, it’s time to dress the salad. In the past, I’ve made my own dressing with oil, vinegar, and spices — but this combination is just TOO EASY! I’d say it’s about 60% of this Italian dressing and 40% of this balsamic vinaigrette dressing. I just sort of squeezed and tossed to my liking, so feel free to do the same!
NOTES:
This pasta salad tends to taste better if it chills for at least an hour — but you may need to add extra dressing if it sits in the fridge for longer than that. I like to make mine the day before to give the noodles time to soak up the dressing, and then toss it with a little extra dressing upon serving. Don’t make it soupy! But be aware that the noodles will soak up the moisture and you don’t want dry pasta salad either!
Also, I made quite a bit here (1 lb. of noodles were used!) — but that’s because we like to eat it throughout the week as leftovers, and it’s a great dish to have in your fridge when an unexpected (and hungry) guest stops by! If you’ll never finish that amount, I recommend cutting the recipe in half.
- 16 oz noodles tri-color rotini
- 1 small head broccoli cut into bite-size pieces
- 1 yellow bell pepper chopped
- 1 8 oz container grape tomatoes sliced
- 1 8 oz can black olives drained, sliced
- 14 oz can quartered artichoke hearts drained
- 8 oz stick margherita pepperoni chunked
- 8 oz block low-moisture, part-skim mozzarella cheese chunked
- 2 scallions diced
- 1/2 cup Italian dressing
- 1/2 cup balsamic vinaigrette
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Salt very well, then stir in the pasta noodles. Cook until "al dente", then drain into colander. (Do not rinse).
- While pasta cooks, prepare the remainder of your ingredients. Cut up the broccoli, bell pepper, pepperoni, mozzarella. Slice tomatoes and black olives in half, and slice scallions (both greens and whites). I also carefully sliced my quartered artichoke hearts into 2 halves, from the meat to the "tail".
- Once pasta has cooled, add to a large mixing bowl with the ingredients previously prepared. Toss to mix. Then add dressings, and toss to coat thoroughly. Best served if chilled for at least one hour.
You may have to add a touch more of each dressing if you're chilling the pasta overnight, as the noodles tend to soak up some of the moisture.