Italian Pasta Salad

Cuisine: American

Cook Time: 20 Minutes

Serves: 8

There is a natural craving for a saucy, cheesy, chilled Italian pasta salad in the summer. Make it in no time; leave it to soak in the flavors ahead of your parties and backyard barbeques. Guess what the best part is? This recipe needs minimum ingredients. What can be better than a yummy creamy delight? Now let’s learn how to make this wonderful delight.

Dried short pasta – 8 ounces
Salami – 4 ounces ( in ½ “ strips)
Mozzarella pearls- 4 ounces
Parmesan cheese 3 ounces

For the Italian dressing:

Vegetable oil ( Preferably olive oil) – ½ cup
Red wine vinegar – 4 tablespoons
Italian seasoning – 2 teaspoons
Ground pepper – ¼ teaspoon
Sugar granules – ½ teaspoon
Cooking salt – ½ teaspoon
Garlic – 1 clove ( minced)

Veggies:

Finely chopped red onion – ½
Chopped cherry tomatoes – 1 cup
Cucumber – 1 small ( thinly chopped)
Olives – ½ cup ( cut in halves)
Parsley – coarsely chopped – ½ cup
Bell pepper – ½ cup ( thinly chopped)

A refreshing Italian delicacy is sure to blow your mind!

Add the Italian dressing ingredients to a bowl and combine using a whisk.
Marinate the chopped onions in the dressing until the rest is prepared.
In a large vessel, boil 2 quarts of water. Cook the pasta till soft. It takes approximately 8 minutes. Drain the pasta and cool it with running water.
In a large bowl, add the cooked pasta, veggies, cheese, and salami.
To the mixture, add the dressing along with the marinated onions. Combine it evenly.
Refrigerate the salad for half an hour, and allow the flavors to infuse in the pasta, and serve it chilled.

Chef Tip:

Marinating the onion in the dressing reduces the raw, pungent odor.
Do not overcook the pasta. Cool the pasta before adding the dressing and veggies.

This quick and easy recipe should be on your go-to party dishes. Loaded with veggies, it makes up for a sumptuous meal too!

Quick Bites

Fun Fact

• Pasta salad is often regarded as a spring or summertime meal, but it can be served year-round.

• There is a debate regarding whether pasta salad is truly a “salad”, given that the base is pasta rather than a vegetable.

Historical Fact

• Italian pasta salad is one of the cold pasta salad dishes! Italian Pasta Salad is not an authentic Italian dish.

• It is called Italian pasta salad because it uses Italian dressing, not because it is a traditional Italian pasta. Italian pasta salad is very much an American dish.