Wednesday, September 17, 2008

What to eat Wednesday- Pasta Salad

I was given the recipe for this delicious pasta salad from my sister-in-law Denise. She had me make it for Jay's graduation luncheon when he graduated from BYU in 1998.
I love every bit of this flavorful salad. I love the dressing-it is the perfect mix-and I love how it sticks to the pasta and the cheese, and the olives.

I made this earlier today, took the pictures and was going to post, and write about how every member of my family will eat it. That they like to take it in their lunch. (one of the main reasons I made this today, so that there would be leftovers for everyones lunch tomorrow.)
Umm no.
Fast forward to dinner tonight. One disliked it so much that they cried. Everyone else feigned death upon seeing this one member react so opposingly to this salad. Even Tucker joined in the mockery. If I had my camera at the dinner table I would have taken a photo!

So I can say, most of the family members love this. One of the other members even has it ready to take to lunch tomorrow! But I am the main one. And since I cook the meals around here, we will keep having it!

This makes a lot!! I always forget how much it makes. It is a great salad to take somewhere.
In fact if you work with Jay he has extras at lunch!

1 pound 3 color pasta spirals
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 1/2 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
little pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano
3 cups broccoli florets teamed and cooled
12 ounce pepperoni slices, cut into quarters
5 ounce string cheese, sliced
1 large green pepper, chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
1 small red onion chopped in to 1/2 rings
1/2 cup black olives sliced
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, rough chunked
1/8 cup Romano cheese, shredded

Cook pasta in plenty of boiling, salted water until al dente, or firm to the bite, about 10 minutes. Drain, rinse with cool water. Set aside.
Whisk oil, lemon juice, vinegar, salt, oregano and black pepper together, set aside.
In a large bowl combine, cooked pasta, broccoli, pepperoni, cheeses, bell peppers, red onion, and olive. Add dressing toss to blend. Taste and add more salt, pepper or lemon juice if needed. Serve at room temperature or refrigerate and serve chilled.

9 comments:

Kim Sue said...

love pasta salad and this one looks yummy - minus the black olives :o) not that they would bring me to tears but just not my favorite.

Brooke said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Brooke said...

I love this post...I swear, I will think I'm making something everyone in the family will like and then they act like I'm trying to feed them poison!
(had to delete other post...couldn't figure out how to edit it...sorry!)

Unknown said...

I work with Jay, and thankfully for me he did indeed have leftovers! This was seriously delicious. I wasn't even hungry and I had to resist the temptation to go back for more.

The Darning Darling said...

mmmmmmm...... I also got to benefit from your husband sharing some of the pasta salad at work. DELICIOUS! Definitely going to have to try this recipe sometime...

Lene said...

That looks so yummy.

I 'poison' my family on a regular basis. Who knew veggies could kill?!?

Jenn said...

had to giggle at your story - leave it to kids to constantly keep you on your toes (or in utter frustration!) Word from work was it was like cocaine! ha! but it does have all the best stuff in it so will have to try it next time I want to feed the 5,000 - it sounds like it makes a ton!:)

(side question - do you slice the string cheese into like little circles?)

Meghan said...

When Olivia was little people would ask if she ate a certain item and I would respond, "all I can tell you is she has eaten that in the past, but that is no guarantee that she will eat it today!"

Starwoodgal said...

Oh Yummy! I love cold pasta salads. This looks wonderful. Thanks for posting the recipe.