There are thousands of different pasta salad recipes and a lot of them can be made quickly and easily, using canned or fresh ingredients, as well as perhaps some meat, poultry or seafood.
Popular ingredients for such salads include olives, shrimp, tuna, mayonnaise, corn kernels, tomatoes, capers and more, although the sky is the limit and you can add pretty much anything. Pasta does not have a lot of flavor so it makes a great base for a salad. Alternatively you could use potatoes or rice as your base.
Have you ever used grilled vegetables to make a salad? These transform your pasta into a stunning appetizer, lunch or supper. Serve a homemade pasta salad at your next cookout, buffet, party, or picnic. You can serve it with a tossed green salad and the following recipe makes enough to serve four people.
Feel free to alter the vegetables. You might like to leave out the eggplant but double the amount of bell peppers or use mushrooms or another grill-friendly vegetable. Use your imagination and taste as you go, to ensure everything is going to taste perfect.
Pasta Salad With Grilled Vegetables
- 1 lb corkscrew pasta
- 1 yellow bell pepper
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 eggplant
- 2 minced cloves garlic
- 2 zucchini
- 10 shredded basil leaves
- 1 pinch ground oregano
- 8 cherry tomatoes
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and hot red pepper flakes
- Wash and dry all the vegetables. Cut the eggplant into half inch slices and sprinkle salt over them. This will draw out the bitter juices so leave the slices in a colander over the sink for half an hour. Take the seeds, stems and ribs out of the bell peppers and cut them into flat strips. Grill them skin side down or broil them to blister the skins, and then take the skins off. Running them under cold water while you scrub the skins off makes this process quicker.
- Rinse and pat dry the slices of eggplant. Slice the zucchini into half inch lengthwise slices. Grill the zucchini and eggplant slices over a hot grill, turning them once. Slice the cherry tomatoes in half and cook them for a minute or two. Cut the sliced veggies into strips and mix them with the grilled tomatoes in a bowl. Add the oregano, basil, garlic, salt, red pepper flakes, and olive oil and refrigerate the mixture.
- Cook the pasta until it is al dente (tender but still with a bit of bite to it), then rinse it under cold water. Stir the cold pasta with the vegetable mixture and serve immediately. If you want to serve it later, you might need to stir another tablespoon of oil into it to break it apart.
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