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Greek-style Pasta Salad

Greek-style Pasta Salad
Makes 8-10 servings

One of our favorite salads, Greek salad, marries with another favorite, pasta, in this garden-meets-grain salad. Red ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, green pepper, and red onion carry the traditional Greek-style salad forward. The Kalamata olives, quartered, provide a spike of saltiness and a nice color contrast. Feta cheese completes the Greek-style profile along with a lemony vinaigrette dressing. Choose a pasta that offers a lot of nooks and crannies for holding the finely diced vegetables and dressing. It’s a favorite at our house and bound to become a favorite at your home, too.

Ingredients
1 lb. pasta
Salt for boiling water
50 grape tomatoes, quartered
1 cup Kalamata olives, pitted and quartered
2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded and diced 1/4-inch pieces
(or 1 large English cucumber)
1 green pepper, diced 1/4-inch pieces
1 small red onion, diced
1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes (oil pack), finely chopped
8 oz feta cheese, crumbled
2 cups arugula (or baby spinach)

Dressing
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. dried basil
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper

Directions:
1. WASH the vegetables, pat dry. CUT the tomatoes and olives into quarters, and the cucumber, green pepper, onion into a fine dice. MINCE the parsley. PLACE in a large bowl.

2. DRAIN the oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes well, chop finely, add to the chopped vegetables. CRUMBLE the feta cheese and set aside in a separate bowl. WASH the arugula, remove any large stems, also set aside in a separate bowl.

3. MIX all the dressing ingredients together in deep measuring cup or bowl. BLEND with an immersion blender, or WHISK vigorously.

3. BRING 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large saucepot. ADD 1-1/2 tablespoons salt to the boiling water, then add the pasta. BOIL the pasta until the pasta is al dente – just “tender to the tooth.”

4. DRAIN the pasta well in a colander, transfer to a large bowl. While still warm, TOSS the pasta with the dressing. The warm pasta will absorb the wonderful dressing flavors. Allow the dressed pasta to cool – (cool pasta is important for the next step).

5. ADD the prepared vegetables (tomatoes, olives, cucumber, green pepper, red onion, parsley), the sun-dried tomatoes, feta cheese, and arugula to the cooled pasta. TOSS to combine. STORE in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

 

Ingredients

Quartering Tomatoes

Dicing Cucumbers

Dicing Green Peppers

Mincing Parsley

Quartering Olives

Dicing Onion

Feta Plus

Dressing Ingredients

Blending Dressing

Draining Pasta

Dressing and Pasta

Mix-ins

Chef Central - Paramus | 240 Route 17 North | Paramus | NJ | 07652 | (201) 576-1000| Copyright 2014 - Acorn Advisors
Chef Central - The Crossroads Center | 419 Tarrytown Road - Rt 119 | White Plains | NY | 10607 | (914) 328-1376