Let’s speak pasta salad. I do know we’ve accomplished a number 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 fine pasta. Past that, there’s a blast of inexperienced from recent 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, but it surely’s a favourite feel-good lunch round right here. 
Just a few extra particulars. This Med-centric pasta salad is loaded with fast marinated cubes of tofu vamping for extra typical feta cubes. Document 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 instead of a comfortable, salty cheese like feta. Lastly, this recipe makes quite a lot of pasta salad so it’s the right kind of recipe for Sunday meal prep.
Mediterranean Pasta Salad: The Principal Components
- Pasta: Use no matter your favourite quick pasta you want right here. I really like the Sfoglini Whole 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 a giant bowl with the pasta and the opposite elements.
- Olives: Use dry, oil-cured black olives when you have them, however don’t sweat it in the event you don’t. I’ve accomplished this pasta salad with a variety of olives prior to now, some are higher than others, however you’re going to get that briny, salty punctuation no matter olives you select. Huge, meaty inexperienced Castelvetrano olives are one other favourite, however a canned black olive can do the job as properly.
- Yogurt: So long as it’s plain, use what you’ve obtained in your fridge. Greek yogurt will make your sauce fairly a bit thicker, however all the pieces is getting properly tossed collectively, all of it works itself out. And low-fat yogurt can be positive if that’s what you retain 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 the event 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 recent. The extra the higher so far as I’m involved. I typically 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 recent arugula, basil leaves, or cilantro are all good choices.
- Tofu or Feta: Making this with cubed tofu instead of feta will doubtless draw some sneers, however truthfully, it’s not a foul method to roll. I just like the added protein increase.
Leftovers!
The leftovers listed here are nice. Particularly the day after, and the day after that. Day three and the pasta texture modifications 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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