{"id":3793,"date":"2020-06-14T17:30:04","date_gmt":"2020-06-14T17:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/masterofkitchen.com\/?p=3793"},"modified":"2020-06-14T17:30:04","modified_gmt":"2020-06-14T17:30:04","slug":"the-best-pasta-salad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leaderrecipes.com\/the-best-pasta-salad\/","title":{"rendered":"The BEST Pasta Salad"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Meet your new summer bestie:<\/p>\n<p>A stupidly easy Italian pasta salad with rotini, juicy tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, red onion, salami, olives, herbs, and a drench of quick homemade Italian dressing.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to know what I\u2019ve eaten for 4 of my last 5 meals, it\u2019s THIS SUMMER ESSENTIAL. We are kind of having a moment here.<\/p>\n<p>In my mind, a nice classic pasta salad serves one of two scenarios:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Attending a picnic, potluck, or other end-of-summer-everyone-bring-something type party;<\/li>\n<li>Addressing the leftover meat, cheese, and vegetables in my fridge and making them into a meal that I pretty much want to eat 24\/7.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This pasta salad will do both for ya.<\/p>\n<p>Just\u2026 some stuff.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s very flexible. These are my favorite pasta salad mix-ins:<\/p>\n<p>Good, spicy salami. Yummy cheeses. Tomatoes or some other friendly non-threatening vegetable. Greens of some sort \u2013 even if it\u2019s just fresh parsley. Olives and red onions and pepperoncini.<\/p>\n<p>Also, we need pasta with good solid texture and shape to absorb all the sauce. I like rotini. (Also, DeLallo! It\u2019s our favorite. The semi-rough texture i<\/p>\n<div class=\"tasty-recipes-description\">\n<p>Super easy Italian Pasta Salad \u2013 with pasta, tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, spicy salami, pepperoncini, olives, and easy Italian dressing. DANGEROUSLY GOOD.<\/p>\n<p><strong>PLEASE CLICK <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">THE\u00a0ARROW BUTTON BELOW | &gt; |<\/span>\u00a0FOR THE FULL INGREDIENTS AND DIRECTIONS OF THIS RECIPE !<\/strong><\/div>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<div class=\"tasty-recipes-ingredients\">\n<h2><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Ingredients<\/span><\/h2>\n<h4><strong>Pasta Salad Essentials:<\/strong><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-amount=\"1\">1<\/span>\u00a0pound uncooked\u00a0<strong>pasta<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 I like rotini!<\/li>\n<li><span data-amount=\"3\" data-unit=\"cup\">3 cup<\/span>s\u00a0<strong>cherry tomatoes<\/strong>, cut in half<\/li>\n<li><span data-amount=\"8\" data-unit=\"ounce\">8 ounce<\/span>s fresh\u00a0<strong>mozzarella cheese balls<\/strong>, cut in half<\/li>\n<li><span data-amount=\"1\">1<\/span>\u00a0lb.\u00a0<strong>salami<\/strong>\u00a0or\u00a0<strong>summer sausage<\/strong>, cut into cubes<\/li>\n<li><span data-amount=\"0.75\" data-unit=\"cup\">3\/4 cup<\/span>\u00a0<strong>kalamata olives<\/strong>, sliced<\/li>\n<li><span data-amount=\"0.75\" data-unit=\"cup\">3\/4 cup<\/span>\u00a0<strong>pepperoncini<\/strong>\u00a0(optional, but do it)<\/li>\n<li><span data-amount=\"0.5\" data-unit=\"cup\">1\/2 cup<\/span>\u00a0sliced\u00a0<strong>red onion<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><span data-amount=\"0.5\" data-unit=\"cup\">1\/2 cup<\/span>\u00a0fresh\u00a0<strong>parsley<\/strong>, chopped<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><strong>Italian Pasta Salad Dressing:<\/strong><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-amount=\"1.5\" data-unit=\"cup\">1 1\/2 cup<\/span>s\u00a0<strong>olive oil<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><span data-amount=\"0.25\" data-unit=\"cup\">1\/4 cup<\/span>\u00a0<strong>white vinegar<\/strong>\u00a0(white vinegar or red wine vinegar work)<\/li>\n<li><span data-amount=\"0.25\" data-unit=\"cup\">1\/4 cup<\/span>\u00a0<strong>water<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><span data-amount=\"2\" data-unit=\"tablespoon\">2 tablespoon<\/span>s\u00a0<strong>coarse sea salt<\/strong>\u00a0(yes, tablespoons \u2013 see notes!)<\/li>\n<li><span data-amount=\"2\">2<\/span>\u00a0cloves\u00a0<strong>garlic<\/strong>\u00a0(or\u00a0<span data-amount=\"1\" data-unit=\"teaspoon\">1 teaspoon<\/span>\u00a0garlic powder)<\/li>\n<li><span data-amount=\"1\" data-unit=\"tablespoon\">1 tablespoon<\/span>\u00a0<strong>sugar<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><span data-amount=\"2\" data-unit=\"teaspoon\">2 teaspoon<\/span>s each\u00a0<strong>dry oregano<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>dry basil<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>black pepper<\/strong>\u00a0to taste<\/li>\n<li><strong>fresh herbs<\/strong>\u00a0if you want! sometimes I add fresh\u00a0<strong>parsley, basil, or chives<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<div class=\"tasty-recipes-instructions\">\n<h2><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Instructions<\/span><\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Cook pasta according to package directions, in salted water for more flavor. Allow to cool slightly and toss with a little oil to prevent sticking.<\/li>\n<li>Blend up the dressing, or shake together in a jar.<\/li>\n<li>Toss all ingredients together! I like to use about three-fourths of the dressing, and then I save the rest of the dressing to add to my leftovers.<\/li>\n<li>Keep in the fridge for 2-3 days. I think it actually tastes best the day AFTER you make it.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Meet your new summer bestie: A stupidly easy Italian pasta salad with rotini, juicy tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, red onion, salami, olives, herbs, and a drench of quick homemade Italian dressing. If you want to know what I\u2019ve eaten for 4 of my last 5 meals, it\u2019s THIS SUMMER ESSENTIAL. We are kind of having a [&hellip;] <a class=\"g1-link g1-link-more\" href=\"https:\/\/leaderrecipes.com\/the-best-pasta-salad\/\">More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3794,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"adace-sponsor":[],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leaderrecipes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3793"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leaderrecipes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leaderrecipes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leaderrecipes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leaderrecipes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/leaderrecipes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leaderrecipes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leaderrecipes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leaderrecipes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leaderrecipes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3793"},{"taxonomy":"adace-sponsor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leaderrecipes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/adace-sponsor?post=3793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}