One of my favorite dishes to make for picnics, potlucks or luncheons is cold tortellini (pasta) salad. It’s tasty, colorful and has lots of fresh veggies in it. And, like so many of the meals I like to make for company, you can prepare it in advance. I made one this morning for tomorrow. The recipe is below.
COLD TORTELLINI SALAD
1 pound tortellini pasta, cooked and drained (I used colored tortellini)
4 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
3 stalks celery, sliced thinly
1 bell pepper, cubed (yellow, red or orange pepper is nice!)
1 purple onion, sliced
1 6 oz. can black olives, sliced
1 cucumber, sliced thinly
1 16-ounce can garbanzo beans, drained
1 bunch broccoli, cut up
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes (a combination of yellow and red tomatoes is nice!)
Stir the above ingredients together. Then mix together the ingredients for Italian dressing (below). Pour the Italian dressing over the pasta and vegetables, and stir until coated well.
Italian Dressing:
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ cup canola oil
¼ cup cider vinegar
½ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. crushed garlic or 4 cloves garlic
2 tsp. basil
1 tsp. parsley
1 tsp. oregano
½ tsp. celery salt
½ tsp. seasoned salt
½ tsp. black pepper
Chill pasta salad several hours or overnight. Right before serving, top with 1 cup Parmesan cheese (ideally freshly grated).
Yum….pasta! I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a pasta dish I didn’t like. And this is one I definitely like a lot!
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