|
 |
Italian pasta salad recipe  Share this recipe on FacebookA recipe for a typical Italian pasta salad. This salad can be refrigerated and eaten the next day. Main ingredients are the fussili or farfalle, capers, black olives, tomatoes and basil. The secret in making pasta salads is using fresh, good quality ingredients, a nice dressing and refrigerating the salad for at least 2 hours before serving, so that the flavors develop. A salad dressing for this recipe is included but you can use a ready made Italian dressing if you like
Preparation time: 15 minutes, Cooking time: 5 minutes, Serves: 4
Ingredients For the pasta salad
1 red bell pepper, finely diced
1 green bell pepper, finely diced
15 - 20 black olives (Kalamata or similar), seed removed and finely diced
2 Tbsp small sized capers (in brine)
1 medium onion, finely diced
2 tomatoes, skin removed and finely diced
Note: before dicing the tomatoes, make an incision and squeeze them in your palms to remove most of the juice
1 cucumber, peeled and finely diced
1 cup frozen green peas, thawed and any water drained
4 or 5 sun-dried tomatoes, soaked in hot water for about 15 minutes and then finely diced
0.75 lb (300 g) fussili (corkscrew) or farfalle (bow ties) pasta, cooked al dente
For the salad dressing
8 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1-2 Tbsp lemon juice
3/4 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp dried dill
1 tsp dresh thyme (or 1/2 tsp dried thyme)
1 tsp dresh oregano (or 1/2 tsp dried oregano)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp salt
Black pepper to taste
Directions Add the sun-dried tomatoes in a bowl, pour over hot water and let them for about 15 minutes.
Cook the pasta (fussili or farfalle) in lots of salted boiling water al dente. Drain, wash with cold water and drain well. Set aside.
While the pasta is cooking, prepare the vegetables. Wash them well, peel, seed and dice where needed. Your vegetables should be diced to roughly 1/3 to 1/4 of an inch cubes. It is important though to dice all of them to the same size.
In a bowl large enough to hold the pasta and vegetables, pour the pasta and then the vegatables on top.
Make the salad dressing by putting all ingredients in a blended and mixing until smooth and creamy. Taste the dressing and adjust with salt and pepper to taste.
Pour the salad dressing over the pasta salad and using your hands or a spoon, mix thoroughly until all ingredients are well coated with the dressing. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours to allow the flavors to develop and serve cold.
Recipes similar to Italian pasta saladRoasted tomato and white bean salad A tasty, low fat salad recipe that is great as a starter or a light main dish. This salad uses cannellini beans, dried or canned, black olives, fresh basil leaves, lemon rind and a simple olive oil based dressing. If you use dried beans, you will have to soak them overnight, and cook them afterwords. Using canned beans will save you the preparation time.
Arancini (Risotto croquettes) Arancini is an Italian croquette made with risotto and using various ingredients for stuffing. This recipe is for a mozzarella stuffed arancini. The recipe is simple to make and once the risotto is ready it requires just 4 to 5 minutes of frying. Arancini can be served as an appetizer, as a snack or even as a complete meal when served with a green salad.
Bacon, cherry tomato and baby spinach pasta A simple, delicious pasta recipe, great for summer. Spaghetti is tossed with fried pancetta, cherry tomatoes, baby spinach and a homemade balsamic vinaigrette. The recipe can be ready in under 15 minutes.
Basic Italian tomato sauce This basic Italian tomato sauce is a great sauce to use on top of pasta or as a base ingredient for a variety of tomato based pasta or other sauces. It is extremely easy to make and refrigerates well, for 2 weeks or more. Make more than you need and refrigerate in air-tight jars until you need it again. The secret in this sauce is the quality of the tomatoes. The better the tomatoes, the better the sauce.
Pasta with prosciutto and green peas A delicious and easy to make Italian pasta dish using prosciutto, peas and milk as main ingredients. This dish refrigerates well and can be eaten cold the following day. For this type of sauce it is important to use farfalle or similar shaped pasta.
Muffelata sandwitch Muffelata is Italian bread that is stuffed with a vinaigrette, salami, mortadella, cheese, red onion, tomato and rocket leaves. The muffelata is served cold and is a delicious alternative to the usual sandwiches.
Creamy Italian mushroom risotto A simple, delicious Italian risotto dish using dried Italian mushrooms.
Pasta with prosciutto and green peas in marinara sauce An Italian pasta dish using prosciutto and peas cooked in a marinara sauce. This recipe is delicious and easy to do and can be ready in 15 minutes.
Grilled zucchini and eggplant panini with basil pesto Easy, extremely delicious Italian panini roll sandwiches with grilled vegetables and a classic basil pesto.
Garlic chicken breasts Garlic flavoured chicken breasts, cooked in an onion, tomato, wine and thyme sauce.
Find more similar recipes
Back to the Italian pasta salad recipe
|
|