There comes a time in life when you get the call. The call from a neighbor asking inviting you over for a cookout. Well, not one to ever show up empty-handed, I asked if he wanted me to bring anything. He said no. I said, that's not an option, please choose between mac & cheese or pasta salad. He went with the salad. So naturally I made six hundred pounds. It was pretty tasty and will make a solid addition to any cookout, picnic or pot luck. If you don't like Basalmic vinaigrette, feel free to swap in Italian or any dressing like that. I suppose you could even go totally wild and use ranch or Caesar dressing for a real gastric bludgeon. As always, if you try it, let me know what you think unless you don't like it. Then I don't want to hear about it. As always, notes are in blue.
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| Clear the Fridge Pasta Salad |
Ingredients
- 2 lbs elbow macaroni
- 1 red onion, chopped
- 1 cup shredded carrot
- 1 cup roasted red/orange/yellow pepper, chopped (feel free to use jarred roasted peppers if you don't want th extra work)
- 1 can black olives, drained and halved
- 3 ounces green olives, halved
- 1 jar (12 ounces) marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
- 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 6 ounces mozzarella cheese, cut into small cubes
- 6 ounces pepperoni, diced
- 1-1/2 cups Basalmic vinaigrette dressing (we originally used a from scratch recipe then realized the bottled stuff was fine, Start with 1 cup of the dressing, then adjust to taste if you want more)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Cook pasta according to directions, but stop and drain a minute before the suggested time.
- In a big foil pan, throw in everything and toss the living shit out of it.
- Give it a taste. If you want more dressing or salt and pepper, add it. If you want less, you're screwed.I guess you can add more of everything else?
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| Good Times! |
