Pasta & Olives Salad
A good pasta salad is made with fresh ingredients and plenty of seasonings. Whether you like it Greek style or Asian style, making your own pasta salad is easy. Adding ingredients like olives requires no previous experience with cooking: the great thing about pasta salad is that you can add ingredients you like or subtract ingredients you don't like. Does this Spark an idea?
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 1 pound pasta (elbow macaroni, fisilli, or rotini)
- 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese, cubed
- 3/4 cup black olives
- 2 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced
- 1 large red onion, diced
- 3 pickling cucumbers, peeled and diced
- 2 bunches fresh oregano leaves, chopped
- 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
- 3 dashes hot sauce
- salt and pepper to taste
- Large stockpot
- Colander
- Cookie sheet
- Large bowl
Instructions
-
-
1
Bring one gallon of water to a rolling boil. Add a dash of salt to the water while it's heating.
-
2
Add one tablespoon of olive oil and the pasta to the boiling water. Cook the pasta until al dente, or mostly cooked but slightly firm when you bite into it. At low altitudes, it should take between six and eight minutes to get your pasta to this stage.
-
-
3
Drain the pasta in a colander. Shake vigorously to remove as much water as you can. Transfer the drained pasta to an oiled cookie sheet immediately to cool.
-
4
Transfer the cooled pasta to a large bowl and toss it with 1/4 of a cup of extra virgin olive oil.
-
5
Mix the rest of the ingredients into the bowl with the cooled pasta. Toss, then adjust the flavor with seasonings such as salt, pepper and hot sauce.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Add other seasonings or flavorings you like, such as red pepper flakes, Italian dressing or celery seeds. Pasta salad preparation provides opportunities for experimentation.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
