Cold pasta salad a perfect first course for summer. With the scorching temperatures these days, I really don’t feel like standing in front of the stove, especially during the hottest hours of the day. But I still need to prepare something for my small family, and so Pasta salads, rice salads, and legume salads are perfect for summer. The recipe I want to share with you today is a fresh and delicious pasta salad I prepared two days ago. A first course to prepare in advance and keep in the fridge until ready to serve. A special idea to take in your cooler bag directly to the beach or on your trip or picnic. Few and simple ingredients that you can vary according to your taste or imagination. For the pasta shape, you can choose what you prefer, even whole wheat pasta is fine, the important thing is that it is always a quality pasta that holds up well to cooking so it remains al dente. What do you think? Does the idea appeal to you? Let’s run to the kitchen and prepare my Summer Cold Pasta together
AND DON’T MISS THESE RECIPES TOO:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 1 Hour
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: For 4 people
- Cooking methods: Stove
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer
- Energy 281.28 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 31.53 (g) of which sugars 5.84 (g)
- Proteins 12.63 (g)
- Fat 11.65 (g) of which saturated 4.63 (g)of which unsaturated 3.89 (g)
- Fibers 3.06 (g)
- Sodium 737.10 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 220 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for the Summer Pasta Salad
- 12 oz pasta (the shape you prefer)
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes (yellow and red)
- 7 oz mini mozzarella balls
- 3.5 oz olives (white and black, pitted)
- 3.5 oz frozen peas
- 0.5 cup canned sweet corn, drained
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- 1 sprig basil
- to taste salt
How to prepare the Summer Cold Pasta
First, cook the pasta: bring salted water to a boil in a large saucepan. When it boils, add both the pasta and the frozen peas. Drain the pasta and peas and quickly rinse them under cold water. Drain them well and transfer to a large bowl. Add 2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and mix with 2 spoons. Let it cool.
Wash the cherry tomatoes, I used both red and yellow, and cut them into 4 parts, removing most of the seeds and the internal liquid. Slice the pitted olives into rings. Drain the corn from its preservation liquid. If the mozzarella balls are larger, you can cut them in half.
Add the ingredients to the now cooled pasta. Also, add the basil, roughly torn. Add a few more tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and mix. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave the Cold Pasta Salad in the fridge for at least an hour or even longer.
See you tomorrow with a new recipe, hugs, Loredana
Loredana’s Tips
The Pasta Salad can be stored in a container in the fridge for 2 days; before serving, add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
Also, check out the recipe for my Classic Rice Salad
