Pasta Salad with Tomato Dressing
Pasta salad has been making a comeback in recent years. I recall preparing it for a salad bar at one of my first chef jobs some 20 years ago. Sun-dried tomatoes, black olives and feta were the key ingredients. I have focused on similar additions in this salad including fresh tomatoes - being the season after all. The simple and flavoursome dressing uses a whole grated tomato combined with olive oil and lemon juice to perfectly complement the other ingredients. Feel free to spruce up the salad with other additions such as sun-dried tomatoes instead of cherry tomatoes, grilled zucchini slices, swap the feta for grilled halloumi cubes, or scatter with some toasted seeds for extra crunch.
Ingredients
- 200 g (about 1 ½ cups) penne or fusilli (spiral) pasta (can use gluten-free)
- 1 tsp salt + extra for seasoning
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium tomato, about 150g
- ¼ red onion, thinly sliced
- squeeze of lemon, to taste
- cracked pepper
- ½ red capsicum, thinly sliced
- about 200g cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
- 150 g feta, crumbled
- ½ cup pitted olives - kalamata or green, halved
- handful basil leaves, roughly chopped
Instructions
- First, cook the pasta. In a saucepan bring 2-3 litres of water to a rolling boil. Add 1 tsp salt to the boiling water followed by the pasta.
- Cook at a rapid boil - this will prevent the pasta from sticking together - until the pasta is al-dente. About 8 minutes for wheat pasta, or 15 minutes for gluten-free pasta.
- Drain in a colander and immediately rinse under cold water. Drizzle with a little olive oil, tossing to combine. Set aside to cool completely.
- Grate the medium-sized tomato directly into a large salad bowl. You may need to nick the skin with the tip of a knife to get it to catch on the grater holes to begin the grating. The aim here is that as you grate the skin peels back on the outside of the grater (into your hand) and the flesh grates into a pulp in the bowl. Compost the skin.
- To the tomato pulp add the remaining olive oil, along with lemon juice and seasoning to taste. The amount of lemon juice required will depend on the sharpness of the tomato used so go with your judgement to bring a flavour balance to the tomato dressing.
- Add the red onion to the dressing to soften while preparing the remaining ingredients, adding to the salad bowl as you go.
- Finally, add the cooled pasta and toss to combine. The salad can be prepared ahead of time, covered and chilled until ready to serve. Also great the next day for school or work lunches.