Three-Pepper Pasta Salad

Someone was looking for pasta salad recipes over in the Etsy forums yesterday. Of course, this got me to thinking about my favorite pasta salad recipe, which I will share with you now. This recipe is so easy to make, so don’t let the long list of ingredients fool you. I’ve taken it to several pot-luck style events, and it’s one of those dishes that’s completely gone when it’s time to go home (which is sad if you were secretly hoping for leftovers for yourself, as I do.) I may have to whip up a batch of this soon… If you end up making this, I hope you’ll come back and leave a comment to let me know how you liked it!

Ingredients
1 package (12 ounces) tricolor spiral pasta
2/3 cup olive oil or vegetable oil
3 tbsp red wine vinegar or cider vinegar
1/4 cup minced fresh basil (or 1 tbsp dried basil)
2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 small sweet red pepper, julienned
1 small yellow pepper, julienned
1 small green pepper, julienned
1 medium tomato, cut into thin wedges
1 can (2 1/4 ounces) sliced ripe olives, drained
2 tbsp sliced green onions
8 ounces mozzarella cheese, cubed

Some notes about how I do it: extra virgin olive oil, fresh basil, red wine vinegar, and fresh mozzarella cheese. Also, I don’t bother to measure the green onions, I just use scissors to snip 1 bunch of them into the bowl. Oh, and I’ve actually been using shredded Parmesan, instead of grated. It all gets liquified in the blender anyway.

Directions
1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile, in a blender or food processor, process the oil, vinegar, basil, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper until smooth.
3. Drain and rinse pasta; place in a large bowl.
4. Add the peppers, tomato, olives, and onions.
5. Add dressing; toss to coat.
6. Add mozzarella and toss. Serve at room temperature.

Yield
6 to 8 servings.

If you left out the cheeses, I bet it would still be delicious, and it would be vegan, too. Also, I bet the dressing would be good on other salad, too.

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