Sunday, August 1, 2010

Antipasto Pasta Salad



I have to admit...I'm not really a pasta salad person.  I don't even know why I don't like it because I like all of the components of pasta salad, but it's something that I will usually only take a tiny scoop of when it's served at a party.  We recently hosted a party at our condo where we were serving barbeque type foods so when planning the menu, pasta salad seemed like a logical fit for one of the side dishes so I needed to find a pasta salad recipe that I would like. 

I decided to adapt this recipe that I found on allrecipes because it looked much better than the "typical" pasta salad, and the combination of the salami, cheese, and vegetables sounded tasty.  I'm glad I found this recipe because I definitely thought this was one of the best pasta salads I've had.  I guess what I'm trying to say is - this is a good pasta salad recipe for people who don't usually like pasta salad.  This recipe makes a HUGE bowl of pasta salad so unless you are serving it at a party, I would cut it in half.   The only thing I would change for next time would be to add a couple of chopped scallions to add a little bit of onion flavor and a pop of green color.

Ingredients:

1 (12 oz.) box of tri-colored rotini pasta
1/2 pound Genoa salami, chopped
1/2 pound Asiago cheese, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
3 tomatoes, chopped
1 (.7 ounce) package dry Italian-style salad dressing mix
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
salt and ground black pepper to taste
 
Directions:
 
Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water until al dente. Drain, and cool under cold water.

In a large bowl, combine the pasta, salami, asiago cheese, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper and tomatoes. Stir in the envelope of dressing mix. Cover, and refrigerate for at least one hour.

To prepare the dressing, whisk together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Just before serving, pour dressing over the salad, and mix well.

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