Now that things are starting to warm up and spring hopefully is just around the corner, we can start thinking about going outside and maybe seeing people again (in a totally safe and socially distanced manner, of course). I especially enjoy having a picnic lunch in a garden or park. One of my favorite dishes to include are pasta salads. Here are a few different versions I hope you’ll enjoy.
These can be adjusted any way you like. Add as much or as little of each ingredient you like to best fit your taste. You can use any kind of pasta, the best being penne, bowtie, and rotini. These have a nice shape that can easily hold the dressing of the salad.
Mediterranean pasta salad:
Ingredients:
- 1 -16 ounces box pasta
- ¼ cup onion, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup black olives sliced in half
- 2 ounces feta cheese
- 1 cucumber quartered lengthwise and then thinly sliced
- ½ pint cherry tomatoes, halved
- ¼ cup roasted red peppers, sliced
- ½ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon oregano
- 1 tablespoon dried basil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Steps:
- Cook pasta according to box instructions.
- Once the pasta is done cooking, drain and rinse with cold water, set aside to cool.
- Into a large bowl, put cooled pasta, onion, black olives, roasted red peppers, tomatoes, the cucumber and feta cheese.
- Into a small bowl, mix together the basil, oregano, olive oil and balsamic vinegar to create the dressing.
- Pour over the pasta and mix until everything is coated.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Enjoy!
Italian pasta salad:
Ingredients:
- 1 -16 ounces box pasta
- 8 ounces mozzarella balls, halved
- 4 ounces salami, quarter
- ½ pint cherry tomatoes, halved
- ½ cup black olives sliced in half
- ½ cup artichoke hearts chopped
- ½ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, or balsamic vinegar
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
- Salt and pepper to taste
Steps:
- Cook pasta according to box instructions.
- Once the pasta is done cooking, drain and rinse with cold water and set aside to cool.
- Into a large bowl, put the cooled pasta, mozzarella balls, salami, cherry tomatoes, black olives, and artichoke hearts.
- Into a small bowl, mix together the oil, vinegar, Italian seasoning, minced garlic clove, and optional red pepper flakes.
- Pour over the pasta and mix until everything is coated.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Enjoy!
Pesto pasta salad:
Ingredients:
- 1 -16 ounces box pasta
- 1 cucumber quartered lengthwise then thinly sliced
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
- 8 ounces mozzarella balls, halved
- 1 cup pesto
- Salt and pepper to taste
Steps:
- Cook pasta according to box instructions.
- Once the pasta is done cooking, drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside to cool.
- Into a large bowl, put the cooled pasta, cucumber, tomatoes, mozzarella balls, and pesto.
- Mix until everything is coated.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Enjoy!
