Gourmet Pasta Salad
- Serves: 6 – 10
- Preparation Time: 25 minutes
- Total Cooking time: 7 – 10 minutes
Pasta salad is one of those recipes that seem to define summertime. It is filling and hearty and at the same time cool and refreshing, best of all it can be made a day ahead of time in under 25 minutes leaving you plenty of time to devote to visiting with friends and family members. While this salad can be made any time of the year, one of the things that makes it so well suited for summertime is the almost endless variety of fresh vegetables that can be added to the mix and add their own unique character to the finished result. Try this and see how fast it disappears.
| Amount | Measure | Ingredients |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | cups | Pasta (Spaghetti, Capellinni, Rotini, or Bow-Tie all work well) |
| 1 | cup | garlic marinated mushrooms, sliced |
| 1 | cup | marinated Portobello mushrooms, sliced |
| 1 | cup | assorted olives, (Nicoise, Picholine, garlic stuffed, Kalamata, feta stuffed) |
| 1/4 | cup | marinated red peppers, sliced |
| 2 | cups | cucumber, peeled and diced |
| 2 | cups | ripe tomatoes, quartered and sliced (about 2 medium tomatoes) |
| 3 | cups | string beans, blanched (you can use frozen) |
| 1 | cup | sweet red onion, sliced thin |
| 1 | cup | extra virgin olive oil |
| 1/2 | cup | balsamic vinegar |
| 2 | cups | zesty Italian dressing, (I use Hidden Valley Ranch or Wishbone brand) |
| 1 | tsp | dried basil (or ¼ cup chopped fresh sweet basil) |
| 2 | Tbsp | roasted garlic, crushed |
| 1/4 | tsp | black pepper |
| 1/2 | tsp | Salt |
To prepare:
Cook pasta according to package directions to al dente, drain pasta into a colander over the sliced red onions to blanch them. Place pasta into a large glass or other non metallic bowl and add in the mushrooms, olives, and remaining vegetables. Whisk together the Italian dressing, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, crushed roasted garlic, and salt and pepper then pour over the pasta and vegetables. Toss to mix well and then cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour or preferably overnight. Serve well chilled.
