Mediterranean Pasta Salad

Ingredients

2 cups dry pasta, cooked
¼ cup sundried tomatoes, chopped
¼ cup marinated artichoke hearts, chopped
¼ cup pitted black olives, halved
¼ cup large green olives, pitted and chopped
¼ cup grilled garlic cloves, sliced
2 tablespoons of capers
1 cup vine-ripened tomatoes, quartered
1 zucchini, cut into strips, chopped
2 scallions, diced
¼ red onion, thinly sliced
8 fresh basil leaves, cut into thin strips
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
½ cup Italian dressing
optional:
1 can tuna, drained and crumbled
kosher salt to taste

Takes 27 Minutes, serves 8.

Instructions

Cook pasta as per package directions. Strain and reserve.
Place cooked pasta, prepared vegetables, basil and cheese into a large bowl and stir together. Add half of the dressing. Stir everything together and taste. Add more dressing and salt, if desired.
Optional: add tuna to salad and stir together.
Serve salad on its own or as the perfect side with a vegetarian, meat, poultry or fish main.

Perfect anytime, our MEDITERRANEAN PASTA SALAD is an easy meal option.

This recipe for MEDITERRANEAN PASTA SALAD had me seeking out a variety of ingredients associated with some of the countries that border the Mediterranean – we wanted to offer something rustic in appearance that delivered on both the flavour and presentation fronts. I certainly think we accomplished both, plus an interesting last-minute recipe enhancement that works too.

As with all our posts, we suggest you PIN this to one of your Pinterest boards, and while you’re at it, why not BOOKMARK this page too? We’re confident you’ll be making our MEDITERRANEAN PASTA SALAD over and over again.

Last thing before I review the highlights of this recipe is to point how versatile it is. We originally set out to add something to our ever-growing list of vegetarian options – we know that a number of you appreciate this – but to keep everyone happy, we’re also presenting the salad with an option to enhance it with tuna. The idea came to me while I was shooting the story, and you know me – never one to miss an opportunity.

Here are some key things to keep in mind:

Ingredients for Mediterranean Pasta Salad

PASTA & MARINATED VEGETABLES

Although this salad is billed with pasta being the key ingredient, don’t go overboard. We think two cups of pasta is the quantity perfect. We also used squat TUBETTI noodles, the smaller bites blending well with everything else. As with all pasta recipes, cook your dry pasta in salted water to the directions on the package.

We assembled an assortment of stellar marinated veggies for this salad and love the rich flavours they provide. We included sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, two types of olives, grilled garlic and capers. When prepping them, don’t stress about how to chop and dice them – a rough chop adds a rustic look to the completed dish.

FRESH VEGETABLES

Adding some fresh vegetables to your salad contributes yet another interesting layer of taste. We went with colourful vine-ripened tomatoes, zucchini, scallions and red onion, but additional fresh vegetables might include sweet peppers, mushrooms, asparagus, and peas – the more the merrier.

FRESH HERBS

Our addition of basil offers a welcome burst of fresh flavour but other herbs will work just as well. Feel free to add some chopped oregano, thyme, and flat-leaf parsley.

CHEESE

We wanted to include cheese in the salad and think Greek feta to be perfect. Crumbling this slightly salty cheese into the salad is quite heavenly. We also like mixing the ingredients for this salad together when the cooked pasta is still warm. The heat from the pasta melts the cheese a bit – yum!

DRESSING

We purposely did not whip up a custom dressing for this recipe, instead turning to one of our tried and true favorites, ITALIAN DRESSING. This salad also welcomes our MUSTARD VINAIGRETTE and this HONEY CITRUS VINAIGRETTE. Maybe try a different dressing each time you make it?

TWO WAYS TO ENJOY

Carol and I spend a lot of time thinking about how you might best enjoy our recipes, tips, and ideas. For this post, we ended up adding a second way to enjoy it, especially for those looking to add a bit of carnivorous protein into the mix, by simply adding some canned tuna.

Whether you serve our MEDITERRANEAN PASTA SALAD on its own or with tuna, prepare to be amazed – both versions are fabulous. If you’d like to serve it as a side dish, prepare smaller portions with our GRILLED VEGETABLE MEDLEY, ROAST CHICKEN or MIXED GRILL.