Only very rarely do I want to eat this
kind of pasta salad warm and this is not one of those times.
This is my
type of pasta salad, it looks so beautiful, and the addition of chickpeas and mozzarella just sounds amazing!
The key to good pasta salad is to add lots of flavorful ingredients or it can be boring and bland, a common problem with a lot
of the pasta salads sold at grocery store deli counters.
I've actually seen quite a lot
of pasta salads with lettuce recently (BLT pasta salad, Caesar Pasta Salad, etc) and I love the idea of making the servings larger and more filling by mixing in some more traditional «salad» ingredients.
I remember going to his parents house to eat Sunday dinner and his mom would have a gigantic bowl
of pasta salad just waiting for me to dig into.
Tortellini salad is a
version of pasta salad, but it is just a bit different and a refreshing change from that or traditional macaroni salad.
But you can bet that, after my work is done, I'll be hitting a party of my own, with a big
bowl of this pasta salad and a few bottles of Gallo Family wine in tow!
A
lot of pasta salads have bacon or pepperoni for added protein and heartiness, but this one is completely vegetarian.
Knowing that more of that big bowl
of pasta salad will be shared with more of my family gave me more incentive to make it for dinner a few times this summer (my husband and daughter will eat it, my older son is still not on board but I have a feeling our littlest guy will be a fan soon enough).
If possible, allow the bowl
of pasta salad to sit for about 30 minutes to allow the flavors to meld together nicely.
For my daughter, I reserved
some of the pasta salad without the sauce and just added ranch.
Any one
of my pasta salads, cold sandwiches, and bar cookie recipes would work in this menu.