Pasta Salad

I was needing something to take to a friends house for a sort of a potluck thing. I thought a pasta salad would be nice. I wasn't really planning on putting it on the blog, so I really didn't measure the ingredients. Of course, once I made it, I figured I could go ahead and take a picture, just in case. Once I had the picture, I thought I might as well post it. So here it is. Nothing fancy, just a quick and easy pasta salad.

This is one of those salads that you just look in your fridge to find your ingredients. A big ripe tomato and some cucumber are definitely needed, but after that, you could add whatever you can find. Some good additions to this salad would be broccoli, cauliflower, fresh spinach, carrots, zucchini, and mushrooms. I can't give exact measurements for the dressing; I just poured the ingredients right in without measureing. If you must measure, I think that you could find a recipe for basalmic vinegar salad dressing and use that.

If you love garlic, put plenty in. Because it isn't cooked, the flavor will be quite strong, so if you aren't sure you can handle it, start with just one clove. If you know its not a problem for you and your spouse adores garlic breath, then add 2 or 3 cloves of garlic. If the pasta sits overnight, the flavors meld and the garlic gets even more potent.

Oh yeah, one more thing. If you are an olive snob, then by all means, use better olives, like kalamata, or some other fancy type. I love good olives, but I didn't have any on hand. They are wonderful, but they cost a lot of money! So I just added a can of plain ol' black olives.



Summer Pasta

About 12 ounces penne pasta, cooked
One whole big juicy ripe tomato, chopped
3 green onions, sliced
black olives
1/2 cucumber, chopped
pecorino romano cheese, grated
a quick pour of olive oil
a glug or two of basalmic vinegar
a squirt of mustard
salt
pepper

Cook the noodles and set aside. In a bowl thats big enough to hold everything, add the rest of the ingrediets. Stir to combine. Add the pasta and toss to coat.