I love a good pasta salad and this one is not only delicious, it’s easy to make.
The first time I made this was for a family Sunday dinner. If you follow my blog, you will know I only cook gluten free on Sundays so my biggest dilemma in making this salad was finding good GF pasta to use. It took some effort, but I managed to find Rummo GF pasta which has become my “go to” now because it’s so good.
So whether you use normal or GF, the pasta is the hero of this salad and using a really good quality pasta makes all the difference to the taste and texture of the dish.
What you need
- 3 cups uncooked fusili pasta
- 1 punnet cherry tomatoes cut in half
- 1 medium Lebanese cucumber cut in half lengthwise, then sliced thinly
- 1 cup cooked chickpeas – drained and rinsed
- 2 cups baby rocket leaves
- ¼ cup of pitted olives
- 1 cup of baby bocconcini
- 1 cup of basil leaves – torn
- ½ cup finely chopped parsley
- ¼ cup finely chopped mint
- 3 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
For the Dressing
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 2 garlic cloves – minced
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- Freshly ground pepper to taste
What to do
Bring a large pot of water to the boil – add 1 tablespoon sea salt
Add pasta and cook a little longer than the instructions on the package, so it’s slightly past al dente.
In the meantime, prepare the dressing by adding all the dressing ingredients into a bowl and whisk together until well combined – put aside.
Drain the pasta. Drizzle a little oil over the pasta and toss through so it doesn’t stick together.
Transfer pasta into a large serving bowl and allow to cool to room temperature.
Add the tomatoes, cucumber, chickpeas, rocket, olives, bocconcini, pine nuts and the herbs to the pasta.
Just before serving – pour the dressing over the salad and toss gently to coat. Add extra salt, oil or lemon juice to taste, if desired. Serve.
Meatballs and Muffins 