Let’s discuss pasta salad. I do know we’ve completed a couple of variations over time collectively, however this one has been a go-to just lately. It’s a Mediterranean pasta salad. Ish. And it fires on an engines. It’s flavor-packed, nutritious, and the leftovers are legit superb. You begin with a base of excellent pasta. Past that, there’s a blast of inexperienced from contemporary herbs, flecks of briny olives, and pops of tomato goodness. The creamy, tzatziki-inspired yogurt dressing is punctuated with garlic, grated cucumber and herbs and coats the pasta superbly. The entire thing is  a shade excessive, admittedly a bit maximalist, nevertheless it’s a favourite feel-good lunch round right here. 

A number of extra particulars. This Med-centric pasta salad is loaded with fast marinated cubes of tofu vamping for extra typical feta cubes. Report scratch, I do know. If this hurts your sensibility, no drawback. Use feta. Or do a mix. I discover utilizing the tofu retains me going all through the afternoon, and the yogurt brings loads of creaminess rather than a mushy, salty cheese like feta. Lastly, this recipe makes loads of pasta salad so it’s the proper kind of recipe for Sunday meal prep.

Mediterranean Pasta Salad: The Predominant Elements

• Pasta: Use no matter your favourite brief pasta you want right here. I really like the Sfoglini Complete Grain Reginetti for pasta salads like this — it’s what you see pictured above. The feel and taste is nice and also you get a very good bump of protein and fiber over a white pasta. Penne, rigatoni, and farfalle are alternate pasta form that work nice right here.
• Cucumber: This recipe calls for 2. You grate one and stir it right into a tzatziki impressed, garlic-boosted yogurt sauce. The opposite is chopped into tiny cubes and tossed into an enormous bowl with the pasta and the opposite components.
  
• Olives: Use dry, oil-cured black olives you probably have them, however don’t sweat it in case you don’t. I’ve completed this pasta salad with a variety of olives previously, some are higher than others, however you’re going to get that briny, salty punctuation no matter olives you select. Massive, meaty inexperienced Castelvetrano olives are one other favourite, however a canned black olive can do the job as nicely.
• Yogurt: So long as it’s plain, use what you’ve bought in your fridge. Greek yogurt will make your sauce fairly a bit thicker, however all the pieces is getting nicely tossed collectively, all of it works itself out. And low-fat yogurt can be positive if that’s what you retain readily available. Great distance of claiming, don’t make a particular journey to the shop to get an alternate yogurt if you have already got some. The spirit of this complete recipe is adaptability.
  
• Tomatoes or Different Seasonal Greens: If tomatoes are in season, use cherry tomatoes right here. Bonus factors in case you make them roasted cherry tomatoes. For instance, if it’s spring, swap in one thing equally colourful and seasonally particular – cooked favas, blanched asparagus, and or spring peas.
  
• Herbs: The yogurt sauce requires dried herbs, and the pasta salad requires contemporary. The extra the higher so far as I’m involved. I usually season the yogurt with a very good quantity of za’atar, however you may need dried thyme or dill and like to make use of that. Ending the pasta salad with a pile or contemporary arugula, basil leaves, or cilantro are all good choices.
  
• Tofu or Feta: Making this with cubed tofu rather than feta will doubtless draw some sneers, however truthfully, it’s not a nasty method to roll. I just like the added protein enhance.

Leftovers!

The leftovers listed below are nice. Particularly the day after, and the day after that. Day three and the pasta texture adjustments and loses some construction. By day three, I’m a cross. Earlier than that, the pasta holds up, the herbs and onions infuse the creamy dressing and cucumbers. It’s on par with a very good day-old macaroni salad, however loaded with good things like tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs and olives. 

Extra One-Bowl Pastas & Pasta Salads

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