Family Favorite Fusilli Pasta Salad
Family Favorite Fusilli Pasta Salad
Greetings readers! As I was thinking about what recipe to share with you this month, I began to search through my books for a recipe I used to make often, but that for some reason hadn’t been added to my active recipe files. I went through several of the books that I thought it had come from, and in doing so, stumbled across a recipe I had all but forgotten about but used to love.
I remember the first time I made this recipe. I was a young bride with an unsophisticated palate, and at the time, found most of these ingredients to be a bit exotic. Fortunately, one of my more food-adventurous friends, Heather, and her husband were over for the evening, and as we looked through my cache of cookbooks, Heather spied this recipe and thought we should try it out.
It’s funny, when I think back on this day, I can remember watching Heather pitting and slicing the olives. Back then, pitting olives and cutting them in half seemed like challenging work! And just all of it…thinly slicing the spinach, boiling the noodles to just the right al dente bite…it all seemed slightly challenging. But Heather and I persevered…and were delighted with the result.
This pasta salad has just the right balance of flavors. A corkscrew spinach pasta tossed with sundried tomatoes, feta, purple onion, and Kalamata olives— brought together with a kiss of garlic in a slightly acidic oil and vinegar dressing, and rounded out with a healthy amount of finely sliced spinach leaves that slightly wilt as the dressing takes hold. It is absolutely delicious. This pasta salad is a wonderful choice for a spring or summer main dish, as a side pasta, or as a potluck or picnic food, as it has an elegant look to it and doesn’t require the refrigeration that a pasta salad with meat or mayonnaise would.
So, thank you Our Community Table readers for bringing this recipe back to me. Without a reason to search for the recipe I had originally wanted to share with you, I would probably not have rediscovered this old favorite. And now, I can hardly wait to make this again…possibly even with Heather!
I hope you will find that this becomes a favorite of yours. And when I do find the recipe that I originally had in mind, I will share that with you too…right here at our community table.
Cristyne Porile
Community Contributor
Family Favorite Fusilli Pasta Salad
From the Colorado Jr. League Cookbook Crème de Colorado
Serves 8
INGREDIENTS
¾ pound Feta cheese (I prefer sheep’s milk Feta)
1 pound spinach fusilli, (or any fusilli pasta, does not need to be spinach), cooked al dente, drained, and cooled to room temperature
¼ cup chopped red onion
½ cup drained and chopped sundried tomatoes
1 cup Kalamata olives, pitted
3 cups thinly sliced spinach
Dressing:
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, crushed
½ teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
In a large bowl, crumble the feta cheese over the drained and cooled pasta. Add the red onion, sundried tomatoes, olives, and spinach and gently toss.
Combine the dressing ingredients and mix well.
Pour dressing over pasta, toss well and serve.
This salad can be made a day ahead. Do not substitute for any of the ingredients. The unique combination of flavors is worth the extra effort required to locate these items in a deli or specialty market.
To make into a more complete meal, serve with a fillet of salmon or any protein of your choice.