Italian Bow Tie Pasta Salad
This colorful Italian Bow Tie Pasta Salad is packed full of veggies, cheese, salami and fresh herbs then tossed with a zesty red wine vinaigrette. It's perfect served as a side dish for a crowd, but it stands great on its own as a main course. Bonus: It keeps well in the refrigerator for the easiest, most delicious leftovers lunch.
Ingredients
- 1 lb dried bow tie pasta (see Notes)
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
Red Wine Vinaigrette
- ⅔ cup olive oil
- ⅓ cup red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon fresh minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
Bow Tie Pasta Salad
- 1 yellow or red bell pepper
- 2 cups grape tomatoes
- 1 medium red onion
- 1 12 oz jar roasted red peppers
- 6 oz pitted Castelvetrano olives (see Notes)
- 6 oz Genoa salami
- 8 oz container fresh mozzarella (see Notes and FAQ)
- ¾ cup grated Pecorino romano cheese
- ⅔ cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
- 15 basil leaves chiffonade (see Notes)
Instructions
- Bring 4 quarts of water to a rolling boil. Add the pasta and 1 tablespoon of salt and cook until "al dente" (still slightly firm when bitter), 9 to 11 minutes. Remove pasta from the heat, drain, and rinse with cool water.
Red Wine Vinaigrette
- While the pasta cooks, combine all of the ingredients for the vinaigrette in a medium bowl or a mason jar. Whisk well to blend or put the lid on the mason jar and shake vigorously (my preferred method!)
Bow Tie Pasta Salad
- Prepare the vegetables: Core and thinly slice the bell pepper. Halve the grape tomatoes. Peel, halve and thinly slice the red onion. Drain and chop the roasted red peppers. Slice the olives in thirds.
- Thinly slice the salami into strips. Cut the mozzarella into ½-inch pieces.
- Transfer the pasta to a large bowl. Pour the vinaigrette over and toss to blend. Add the sliced bell pepper, tomatoes, onion, roasted red peppers and olives, toss to blend. Mix in the salami and mozzarella.
- Sprinkle the pecorino cheese over the top along with the parsley and basil. Mix until all ingredients are evenly incorporated. Serve warm, room temperature or cold!
Video
Notes
- Castelvetrano olives are green olives with a mild and buttery flavor (and my personal favorite varietal.) Feel free to substitute the more common Kalamata or black olives, or your preferred olive type.
- I choose "ciliegine" mozzarella--the smaller sized balls that come in a tub--when making this recipe, as they are easy to cut in half for the ideal size. You can use any other sized mozzarella and just cut it into ½-inch pieces.
- To "chiffonade" basil, you simply cut it into thin strips. An quick and easy way to do this is to roll up a stack of the basil leaves and the slice them on a diagonal, creating several strips of basil at once.
Nutrition
Calories: 314kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 18mg | Sodium: 1313mg | Potassium: 239mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 594IU | Vitamin C: 31mg | Calcium: 136mg | Iron: 1mg
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