Italian Pasta Salad
Loaded with colour, texture and flavour this is the best Italian pasta salad ever! A stupidly easy pasta salad with pasta, juicy tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, capsicum, red onion, salami, olives, herbs, and a drench of creamy slightly sweet garlic vinaigrette. A great crowd pleaser for a family get together or for the weeks lunch prep!
Serves 8
Effort: Easy
Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 8 mins
Gluten free option
Ingredients
500g pasta, (I recommend bow tie or spiral pasta)
1 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved - see hints & tips
1 red capsicum, cored and chopped
1 shallot, thinly sliced into rings
110g green olives chilli & garlic - these are the ones I used
200g fennel salami, sliced into bite size pieces - see hints & tips
125g fresh mozzarella cheese, torn
60g spinach, chopped
1/2 cup packed chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup packed chopped fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup garlic vinaigrette
Instructions
Cook the pasta in boiling water according to package instructions until the pasta is cooked to al dante (don’t forget to salt your water). Drain, rinse under cold water (to stop the cooking process) & drain again.
Put the cooled pasta into a large mixing bowl with the garlic vinaigrette, toss through.
In the large bowl, add the tomatoes, chopped capsicum, shallot, olives, salami, mozzarella, spinach and fresh herbs.
Toss together and serve.
Hints & tips
Make gluten free - Make this dish gluten free by using gluten free pasta of your choice. Also make sure the salami you buy is gluten free too!
Pasta - This recipe uses bow tie pasta. Easily swap to pasta you have on hand. Recommendations - Fusilli (spiral), Rotelle (wagon wheel) or even Orzo (rice shaped)
Salami - Using salami with fenel adds a depth of flavour through this pasta salad. If you cant find this type of salami you can use plain salami and add 1-2 tsp of fennel seeds to the salad instead. Also, feel free to omit the fennel altogether if you prefer. Chilli salami would be another great choice.
Mozzarella - We used this mozzarella and used our hands to roughly tear into the salad. Bocconcini would be a great substitute here.
Serving suggestion - Serve as part of a family feast. Great along side glazed ham or a BBQ. Also, perfect for packed lunches through the week.
Portion size - This is a large salad. Serves 8 - will half easily for smaller famillies.
Storage - Store in the fridge for 3 days. Not suitable for freezing.
