6.01.2010

The BEST Pasta Salad You'll Ever Make!

Just like the rest of America, we spent our long weekend sharing laughs and delicious food with friends & family. On my quest for the perfect pasta salad to compliment our BBQ, I searched for the quintessential pasta salad from my favorite Food Network guru - Ina Garten. After a quick search, I stumbled upon this delicious recipe. As usual, I made some modifications due to a lack of certain ingredients, but all in all this was a BIG hit!

Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Serves: 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients
1/2 pound fusilli (spirals) pasta (I used the whole box - 1lb)
Kosher salt
Olive oil
1 pound ripe tomatoes, medium-diced
3/4 cup good black olives, such as kalamata, pitted and diced (Didn't have on hand, so I omitted)
1 pound fresh mozzarella, medium-diced (Only had feta, so I made the swap)
6 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped

For the dressing:
5 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar (Only had apple cider, so I swapped)
6 tablespoons good olive oil
1 garlic clove, diced (We love garlic, so I used two)
1 teaspoon capers, drained (Don't like capers, so I skipped this all together)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1 cup packed basil leaves, julienned

Directions

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water with a splash of oil to keep it from sticking together. Boil for 12 minutes, or according to the directions on the package. Drain well and allow to cool. Place the pasta in a bowl and add the tomatoes, olives, mozzarella, and chopped sun-dried tomatoes.

For the dressing, combine the sun-dried tomatoes, vinegar, olive oil, garlic, capers, salt, and pepper in a food processor until almost smooth. Pour the dressing over the pasta, sprinkle with the Parmesan and basil, and toss well.

This pasta salad was a huge hit. It was light and refreshing, but packed full of flavor. I would definitely recommend making this for any of your upcoming summer bbq's!! Enjoy!


No comments:

Post a Comment