Who doesn’t love a good cold pasta salad, especially in the summer and more especially one that won’t go bad if left out for a while. This isn’t a mayo-based salad so you’re safe.
Thanks to our sister-in-law, Dianne, I discovered a really easy pasta salad that used whatever favorite vinegar based dressing you preferred as the liquid for the salad. I believe she used an Italian that was really good when mixed up with the pasta and the cheese and the veggies … YUM!
We were on a summer trip visiting David’s side of the family at their lake house in Minnesota and each family household was responsible for a main dish/meal at some point during the trip. That meant one evening we were on the hook for dinner, those details and recipes are for several other posts. Let’s just say there was some incredible food that trip.
When we got home I wanted to recreate some of those dishes and the memories that go with them but with my spin. The pasta salad recipe was something I immediately wanted to try because it has tons of flavor and keeps really well for longer than a few days.
At the time I chose to go Greek with flavors and picked up a jar of Girards Greek Feta Vinaigrette. I loved their salad dressings, the Champagne Vinaigrette is still one my favorites, and the pyramid shaped bottle was a nice design/marketing touch. These days our local Safeway no longer carries that flavor so I had to recreate the recipe as best as I could for the recipe below. I think I nailed it. In fact, I made it on Saturday and have eaten on it for the last two days. I’m not getting tired of this yet. 😉
- 1 – 12 oz. package tri-color rotini
- 1 large carrot, grated
- 2 large celery stalks, chopped small
- ½ cucumber peeled and chopped small
- ½ - 1 cup black olives chopped
- 1 cup crumbled feta
- Greek Feta Vinaigrette: ½ cup olive oil, ¼ cup red wine vinegar, ¼ cup white vinegar, 2 tsp Dijon mustard, 1 shallot, minced, 2 large garlic cloves, minced, or passed through a garlic press, 2 tbsp dried oregano, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper
- Boil pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
- In a large bowl add grated carrot, chopped celery, chopped cucumber, chopped olives, and crumbled feta. Mix to evenly distribute.
- Add Greek Feta Vinaigrette and stir to combine.
- Cover and chill for at least 2 hours, more is better. Overnight is the best.
- Vinaigrette: Combine all ingredients in a jar and shake well until combined. Or combine all ingredients a medium size bowl and whisk together until combined. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours.