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Greek-Inspired Pasta Salad

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Course: Salads
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Additional Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 8 servings
Author: Doina Johnson

Ingredients

Pasta Salad Ingredients (minus the Salad Dressing)

  • 1 lb of farfalle/bow-tie pasta
  • 2 cups cherry tomatoes halved
  • 1 bell pepper deseeded and finely chopped
  • 1 English cucumber halved and thinly sliced
  • 1 small red onion peeled and finely chopped
  • 1 cup Kalamata olives pitted
  • 8 oz Greek feta crumbled
  • salt for boiling the pasta

Salad Dressing

  • 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 garlic clove minced
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 1 tsp honey
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Instructions

  • Make the pasta salad dressing by mixing all the dressing ingredients together with a whisk or shake it in a small jar with a lid.
  • Add the pasta to a pot of salted boiling water and cook for the time indicated on the package, plus 1 minute to make the pasta softer. When cold, pasta is a bit more chewy/tougher, so boiling it a bit longer makes it softer when served cold in pasta salads.
  • Drain the pasta after boiling it, and immediately toss it with half the dressing. Tossing it in half the dressing while it’s warm makes the pasta absorb the flavors of the dressing better. Then, set it aside to cool down.
  • While the pasta is cooling down, you can chop and prep the rest of the ingredients for the salad.
    - Halve the cherry tomatoes.
    - Slice the cucumber in half and scoop out the seeds (optional; it will make the pasta salad less watery). Then, thinly slice the cucumber halves.
    - Finely chop the bell pepper.
    - Finely chop the red onion.
    - Crumble the feta.
  • Once the pasta has completely cooled, add the cucumber slices, halved cherry tomatoes, chopped bell pepper, chopped red onion, crumbled feta, and the remaining half of the salad dressing. Toss everything until combined.