Italian Tortellini Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 12 oz. frozen fresh, or dried cheese and spinach tortellini
- 1 pint/basket of cherry tomatoes cut in half
- ½ red onion roughly chopped
- 3 small seedless cucumbers cut into ½" chunks
- 1/2 cup of mozzarella pearls either whole or chopped
- 1/2 cup of drained pepperoncini sliced or roughly chopped
- 1 cup black olives sliced (some prefer Kalamata olives)
- 20 pitted green olives preferably Italian Castelvetrano olives
- 1/2 cup of drained roasted red peppers roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup of sun-dried tomatoes use the dried version and not the jar of oil-based tomatoes
- 1 8- oz. can drained artichoke hearts, sliced
- 1 red bell pepper roughly chopped
- 1 yellow bell pepper roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup of Genoa salami cut into ¼" chunks
- 20 fresh basil leaves sliced into slivers
- Italian vinaigrette/dressing
- generous handfuls of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
- Garnish: Fresh Basil Leaves
- Optional: 1 tsp. dried red pepper flakes
- Optional: ½ cup toasted pine nuts
Instructions
- Chop up all of the vegetable ingredients and add to a shallow, wide bowl/platter (see YouTube video for an example).
- Bring a tall pot of water to a boil. Add a tablespoon of sea salt (regular salt is fine).
- When boiling, add tortellini and cook until 'al dente' (this time will differ depending on whether the tortellini is frozen, dried, or fresh).
- Drain pasta and add to the vegetable salad bowl.
- Drizzle your favorite Italian viniaigrette or dressing to the salad.
- GENTLY toss the salad.
- Allow the salad to rest in the refrigerator for about 3 hours to allow the flavors to marry.
- Serve chilled, and enjoy!
Notes
Store up to 4 days in the refrigerator!