Summer temperatures bring new ideas to the kitchen, so today I present you my summer pasta salad, easy to prepare, with just a few simple ingredients! You can of course use the ingredients you already have in your fridge or pantry, pasta salads are perfect as a fridge clean-out. In my recipe, I used green lettuce, tuna, olives, carrots, and mozzarella. Wanting to prepare a special summer pasta recipe, I thought of the Paccheri di Gragnano IGP that I had in the pantry for a while.
I was in the kitchen this morning working at the computer, it’s my day off from the office, so I dedicate my time to the blog. I felt hot and needed to prepare lunch. I was reflecting on some recipes, so I checked the blog for how many summer cold pasta recipes there were and to my great regret, I noticed there aren’t many. So I went shopping with the idea of preparing a delicious cold pasta salad.
I am very happy with the result, I used a medium-sized round pastry ring to keep them upright and mixed the ingredients in a bowl before filling them one by one. The only big advice I give you is to cut all ingredients into small pieces; I used scissors to have similar cuts. Season everything with salt, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, and your summer pasta salad is ready!
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Here are some other summer cold salad recipes:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 10 Minutes
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 2
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer, Summer
- Energy 335.81 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 43.71 (g) of which sugars 2.42 (g)
- Proteins 18.43 (g)
- Fat 10.09 (g) of which saturated 2.55 (g)of which unsaturated 4.65 (g)
- Fibers 4.65 (g)
- Sodium 1,245.33 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 150 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 Cold Pasta Salad
- 20 paccheri (di Gragnano IGP)
- 1 carrot
- 2.82 oz canned tuna
- 2 leaves lettuce
- 10 green olives
- 0.71 oz mozzarella
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- to taste salt
- to taste black pepper
Tools for Preparing Summer Pasta Salad
- 1 Bowl
- Scissors
- 1 Pot
- 1 Spoon
- 1 Fork
- 1 Knife
- 1 Teaspoon
- 1 Colander
- 1 Pastry Ring
- 2 Plates
Cold Pasta Salad Recipe Steps
Let’s start the preparation of the cold pasta salad by bringing plenty of water to a boil in a pot. Once it has reached a boil, add salt and pour in the paccheri or the type of pasta you have chosen. I recommend not exceeding the cooking time indicated on the package; in fact, leave a few seconds less because we will then need to cool the pasta completely, and if overcooked, it might break or fall apart. During the cooking time, let’s prepare the other ingredients.
Take a bowl and break the lettuce into it; as I mentioned, I used scissors for this. Then I added the carrot and green olives, always cutting everything into small pieces. I seasoned with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of pink salt. I did not add the mozzarella to the bowl because I wanted to achieve a final effect similar to grated cheese flakes over the pasta. You can, of course, add the mozzarella to the bowl by cutting it into small pieces along with the other ingredients.
After the pasta is done cooking, we will cool it down; I am used to quickly passing it under the cold water stream from the faucet while keeping it in the colander. Now take two plates, place the pastry ring in the center, and position the paccheri upright. Now fill them with the cold salad we prepared, carefully because they might break.
Before removing the pastry rings, place the plates in the refrigerator for at least 10 minutes; this will allow the paccheri and the ingredients inside to stabilize. After this time, we are ready to serve the summer pasta salad. Shred the mozzarella and let it fall like grated cheese on the surface of the paccheri. Now remove the pastry rings and enjoy your meal!!!
The variations you can make to this recipe are numerous, from the type of pasta to use to the ingredients you have available in the pantry or fridge. Let your imagination run wild as I did this morning; the simplest and most impactful recipes always arise from a small spark of creativity!
Storage:
You can dress the pasta, fill the paccheri or the type of pasta you have chosen, and then close it in plastic containers for the refrigerator. You can thus keep it cold and serve it whenever you want. The colder and better seasoned, the tastier the summer cold pasta salads are.
