On the Tailgate Menu: Italian Pasta Salad

Salads are one of my favorite things to make. I usually make at least one a week that I can serve as a side dish with my meals, or I'll eat just salad for lunch at work. Finding new salads that my whole family likes has proven to be challenging and I find myself going back to some of the same recipes after a while. This Italian pasta salad is one that I've made before and love. It reminds me a lot of an antipasto platter with the meat, peppers and artichoke hearts in it. Because it's such a hearty salad I can eat it with some French bread for a quick dinner.

Italian Pasta Salad, courtesy of creolecontessa.com on Pinterest

Ingredients:

• 1 box rotini pasta

• 1 cup marinated artichokes, chopped

• 1 cup black olives, sliced

• 1 cup pimento stuffed olives

• 1 cup pepperoncini, drained

• 1 cup Genoa salami, chopped

• 1 cup Black Forest ham, chopped

• 1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

• 1 hot house cucumber, sliced

• 1 red onion, diced

• 1/2 cup Italian parsley, chopped

• 1 teaspoon black pepper

• 1 teaspoon creole seasoning

• Extra virgin olive oil

For the Vinagrette:

• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil

• 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar

• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

• 1 lemon, zested, juiced

• 1 teaspoon black pepper

• 1 teaspoon creole seasoning

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1 teaspoon onion powder

• 1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed

• Pinch of crushed red pepper

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boon

2. Add pasta and cook according to pasta box directions

3. Mix Vinagrette ingredients into a large jar, shake well and set aside

4. Place all meat, cheese, seasonings and veggie ingredients into a large bowl, mix well

5. Drain pasta, rinse in cold water, drain again

6. Coat pasta with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, mix well, place into large bowl with other ingredients

7. Pour Vinagrette over ingredients, mix well and chill for about 1 hour before serving

Notes:

I use tri-color rotini in this recipe, I like the color that it adds to the salad. I also do 1 1/2 of the Vinagrette because the pasta soaks so much of it up that it dries out if I don't. Instead of Black Forest ham I used diced ham in a package for ease and I cut the cucumbers in quarters and the green olives in half. This makes a ton of salad. If I didn't eat so much of it myself, I would probably half the recipe.

#salads #sides