Creamy Italian Pasta Salad
A big pasta salad is such a brilliant family standby-meal. I deliberately make extra so there are leftovers for lunches, picnics and snack boxes.
This pasta salad is packed full of Italian ingredients: tomatoes, grilled artichokes, peppers, pitted olives and basil. Like all salads you can play with the ingredients, to use up what you have in your fridge but also to add foods you love to eat as a family. I like to add sliced chicken to this recipe, but you can omit this and make it vegetarian.
The dressing is a creamy Italian-inspired dressing, which gives the pasta plenty of flavour. You don’t need much to dress the salad, as it goes a long way store any leftover dressing in an airtight container in the fridge and use within 3-5 days.
n.b. this recipe is suitable for 1 years +
recipe serves 8-10
for the pasta salad ~
400g pasta, (penne, fusilli or farfalle work well)
200g cherry vine tomatoes
1 large red pepper
100g chargrilled artichoke hearts
150g feta* cheese, OR 200g mozzarella (if you prefer)
*feta is high in salt, so I use slightly less
60g pitted black olives, drained
1/2 cucumber
25g fresh basil leaves
for the creamy dressing ~
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons good mayonnaise, I am using a vegan mayonnaise which is egg free
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon honey
black pepper
To make the salad ~
Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions and drain, set aside to slightly cool. Meanwhile take a large bowl to assemble the salad. Halve the cherry tomatoes, core and dice the red pepper, then chop the cooked artichoke (you may need to drain them a little if they are packed in olive oil). Add everything to your salad bowl. Next cut the feta/ or mozzarella cheese into cubes and add them as well. Cut the pitted olives in half, this makes them go further in the salad and looks pretty, add them also. Wash, dice and add the cucumber for a lovely crunchy texture in the salad. Once the cooked pasta has slightly cooled toss through all the other ingredients. To finish wash and pat dry the basil leaves, pick the fresh leaves from the stems, discarding the stems. Stack the leaves then roll them into a cigar shape, finely slice into shredded basil pieces (or to be more technical a chiffonade cut). Scatter over the salad.
To make dressing ~
Add all the dressing ingredients to a bowl and whisk until smooth. This is slightly too much dressing for the salad, add the dressing a spoon at a time and toss the salad as you go. You don’t want to over-dress the salad, all the ingredients should be lightly dressed and glossy. The dressing is full of flavour and a little goes a long way. You can store any leftovers in an airtight container and it will last for 3-5 days in the fridge.
n.b. serving suggestion
Add cooked, cooled and sliced Homemade Chicken Nuggets (around 200g) this adds lots of protein and works beautifully with the creamy dressing. I scatter these over the salad before serving to keep the chicken coating crunchy.
allergens
gluten, wheat, dairy, eggs*, meat**
*depending on the brand of mayonnaise check the label
** if adding chicken