In honor of outdoor dining and the cookout season, I have decided to put together a pasta salad recipe that features Greek ingredients and flavors. I’ve served this salad before for our church’s Lenten suppers as well. It is always a big hit and is usually gone by the end of the function. So if you like it leftover, you may want to double the recipe.

I listed all of the ingredients that I usually put in it. But, pasta salad is one of those things that doesn’t need to be precise. You can put whichever vegetables you enjoy. For example, if you don’t like tomatoes, don’t feel as if you need to put them in the salad because it’s listed. As long as you put the amount of pasta and dressing I have listed, the recipe will come out great.

There are several ways you can garnish this. You can put the salad in a pretty glass bowl and garnish it with fresh parsley or oregano. Or, if the party is something that is a little fancier, you can put it in a long serving platter and garnish it with bunches of fresh herbs.

This dish really does work well in a cookout or potluck setting. A lot of people don’t like mayonnaise based pasta salads, but it seems that almost everyone enjoys pasta salad when made with oil based dressings. To make it extra healthy you can use whole wheat pasta.

Also be careful of keeping it out on the table for too long because of the cheese. If you think the dish will be sitting around for a while, you may want to omit the feta.

Servings:

6-8 or more as a side dish

Ingredients:

1 lb. package of small pasta such as rotini or cavatappi
½ cup pitted kalamata olives
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
½ English cucumber, chopped
½ cup crumbled feta cheese
1 can artichoke hearts, quartered
1 cup roasted zucchini, chopped
½ cup chopped roasted red peppers
1 bunch of scallions, sliced
1 bottle of Greek salad dressing

Instructions:

Boil the pasta according to package instructions. Just before draining, reserve about 1 cup of the pasta water. Add pasta to a large mixing bowl. Toss in the next eight ingredients. Shake the dressing and pour the whole thing into the bowl. Keep the water set aside. When you are about to serve it, if you notice that the pasta is sticking together, add a little bit of the water.