Parsley In a Pasta Salad

We're celebrating parsley today! I believe parsley is a somewhat underrated herb. Yes, you often see it sprinkled on the side of your plate when you're eating at a restaurant, and we use it to dust the tops of our sauces when we make pasta, but you rarely see it featured as a main ingredient in a recipe. I think parsley has a great taste and I'm growing it because I frequently use it in my cooking.

Here's my parsley baby:

I was trying to figure out the best way to showcase parsley's flavor talents and I thought to do this, I should leave it raw, uncooked, unheated. The always perfect cold dish is none other than: the pasta salad. Mother's Day was coming up so I decided to make this Greek inspired pasta salad for our family cookout and chose parsley to be the subtle star of the dish. Pasta salads are always great for cookouts because most of them don't use mayonnaise, which can spoil and make you sick if you eat it after it's been sitting out unrefrigerated for hours. This one uses a balsamic vinaigrette as the dressing, and lots of fresh parsley.

I have to say, I love a good pasta salad. Don't get me wrong, plenty of pasta salads at cookouts and barbeques all over this country are kind of been-there-done-that and not all that exciting. You know what I'm talking about.  The ones I love are unique pasta salads that use unexpected ingredients and take a little more time and care to conceive. I use pasta salads as a challenge to create something new and try to never make the same one twice - unless it's so good I can't resist! I even try to find fun and different kinds of pastas to use in these salads. This time I found one called campanelle (meaning "little bells" in Italian) at Wegman's and I think it gave this salad the perfect unique touch.

I think this pasta salad turned out pretty well and hope you enjoy it as much as my family did on Mother's Day. I have to mention I got the ultimate compliment from my mom when she said, "I would pay for this food in a restaurant." Thanks mom! :-)

OK, let's get cookin'!


Greek Inspired Pasta Salad

Servings: 8
Prep. time: 35 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
1 pound uncooked pasta - I used campanelle but you can use orecchiette or even penne, just make sure it's bite sized
1 red bell pepper, sliced thin
3/4 of a vidalia or sweet onion, sliced thin
4 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 vine ripened tomato
1 handful pitted kalamata olives
6 teaspoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 handfuls feta cheese crumbles

For the Dressing:
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper


Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place a large pot filled 3/4 of the way with water on the stove over high heat.

Arrange the sliced peppers and onions on a non-stick baking sheet. Sprinkle with the salt & pepper and then drizzle with the 4 teaspoons of olive oil. Use a spatula to stir up the veggies, making sure that they're all coated in the oil and s&p. Spread them out in an even layer over the sheet.

Place them in the oven to roast for 20 minutes. At the ten minute mark, mix them up a little using a spatula to make sure they're cooking evenly.

When the water comes to a boil, add your pasta as well as a sprinkle of salt. Allow the pasta to cook to al dente by following the time instructions on the box the pasta came in.

Once the pasta is done cooking, drain the water using a colander. Place the colander under your faucet and run cold water over the pasta for about three minutes.

Make sure all excess water is off of the pasta and then dump the pasta into a large serving bowl.

After the peppers and onions are done roasting, remove them from the oven and immediately pour them over the cooked pasta. Add in the tomatoes and olives at this time and toss to mix in all the veggies with the pasta.

To make the dressing, use a dressing bottle or food storage container with a tight fitting lid to combine the cup of olive oil with the 1/2 cup of balsamic, as well as the 1/2 teaspoon each of the salt & pepper. Make sure the lid is tightly secured and then vigorously shake the container for about 30 seconds. This will create the dressing.

Pour 3/4 of the dressing over the pasta salad and stir to coat it. (If you're going to be serving your salad right away, this will be all of the dressing you will use. Use the leftovers for a nice green salad later!)

Sprinkle half of the chopped parsley over the salad and stir to combine.

Place the bowl of pasta salad in the fridge to chill before serving.

If you've waited several hours by the time you're ready to serve your pasta salad, the pasta will have soaked up quite a bit of the dressing and you'll need to add the remaining 1/4 at this time. Then add the other half of the chopped parsley as well as the feta cheese crumbles. No need to stir this time - it'll all get mixed in when you dish the salad out onto your serving places. Salute!