Easy Mediterranean Pasta Salad
A flavorful & fresh salad to keep you cool during the summer heat!
Equipment
- 1 Salad Spinner from my amazon store
Ingredients
- 3 cups salad leaves washed and spun in the salad spinner
- 2 cups fusilli pasta boiled, strained and run under cold water
- 2 tbsps red or green pesto fresh or bottled, it's totally up to you!
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup feta crumbled or diced
- 5-6 pitted olives jarred olives immersed in oil is great!
- 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds roasted
- 3 slices of artichoke from the jar diced. Jarred artichoke immersed in oil is great!
- 3 strips of sun-dried tomato cut or chopped into small pieces. Jarred sun-dried tomatoes immersed in oil is great!
- some grated mozzarella for garnishing
- balsamic cream for garnishing
Instructions
- Make sure your salad leaves are fully washed, and dry before you use them. The salad spinner is perfect for this
- Place your leaves in your salad bowl, add the olive oil, and apple cider vinegar. Then use salad tongs to gently toss your leaves. I use silicone ones instead of the sharp metal ones. Don't over-toss your leaves as it will start to absorb the liquid and it will end up really soggy. Squeezing them too tight in-between your tongs will also crush the leaves. Spin the salad around for a maximum of 3 times.
- In a frying pan over medium heat, pour your boiled pasta and the pesto sauce. Sauté this together until the pasta is fully covered in the pesto, then set aside. You can add more pesto here if you would like!
- Once your pasta is cool, add it to your salad bowl of leaves.
- Now you can add your olives, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes and pumpkin seeds.
- Sprinkle your feta on top, and garnish with mozzarella cheese.
- For the final but most important step, drizzle the balsamic cream on top before its served.
- Enjoy warm!