One of the things I love about summer is coming up with new side dishes to serve with whatever I am grilling. This pasta salad goes well with many different grilled meats, meat alternatives, and veggies.
Start by getting your pasta cooking in boiling salted water. While the pasta is cooking, mix together the dressing ingredients so it is ready to add the pasta right when it is done.
Once the pasta is cooked to al dente, drain and add directly to the dressing. Mix it in. The warm pasta will absorb the flavors of the dressing. Put this in the refrigerator to start cooling down.
I always made this with sundried tomatoes that I reconstituted, then one time I decided to make it a little easier and bought them packed in oil. I didn’t take into account the additional oil when I made the dressing and my dish turned out too oily. This recipe is adjusted for sundried tomatoes packed in oil. So, if you decide to use dried tomatoes that you add hot water to soften them, you may need a little more oil in the dressing, but wait until the end to determine that.
Also, I usually use roasted red bell peppers because they are easier to find in jars in the grocery store, but I happened to have some roasted green peppers from my garden in the freezer that I needed to use up, so that’s what I used this time.
Once you have your ingredients ready, mix them in with the pasta and dressing.
Refrigerate for about an hour to cool down completely.
Enjoy!
Mediterranean Pasta Salad
Equipment
- large saucepan
- 1 large bowl and whisk
- Cutting board and knife
Ingredients
- 2 cups bowtie pasta uncooked
- ½ cup sun-dried tomatoes jarred in oil, rough chopped
- ½ cup kalamata olives pitted, rough chopped
- 1 each roasted bell pepper red or green, diced
- ½ cup artichoke hearts rough chopped
- ½ cup pepitas raw pumpkin seeds
- ¼ cup feta cheese crumbled
- ¼ cup parmesan cheese shredded
Dressing
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- ½ each lemon juice and zest
- 1 each leek small, cut in ½ moons
- 5 each basil leaves fresh, sliced
- ½ tsp granulated garlic
- 1 pinch black pepper
Instructions
- ring 4 to 6 cups of water to a boil, add a couple tablespoons of sea salt and pasta. Cook to al dente, about 10 minutes. Drain.
- While pasta is cooking, combine dressing ingredients and start preparing the rest of the salad ingredients.
- After pasta is drained, add to the dressing, mix in and put in the refrigerator.
- Finish preparing the rest of the ingredients and mix into the pasta and dressing.
- Refrigerate for 1 hour, stirring a couple of times.