Tortellini Pasta Salad

By á-14976

A cold pasta salad that is good on a hot summer day.

Ingredients

• Fresh Tortellini (must be fresh, not dried!)
• Sliced Green Onions
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Fresh Mozzarella Cheese Balls
• Green Pepper
• Yellow Pepper
• Artichoke Hearts (in bottles, processed in sunflower oil)
• Asparagus Spears
• Asiago Cheese, grated (use liberally)
• Boar's Head Hard Salami -- buy a good size hunk and cut it into chunks
• 1 Bottle "Olive Garden" Salad Dressing

Details

Servings 8
Cooking time 45mins

Preparation

Step 1

I roast the peppers over a gas flame, wrap them in a paper towel and let them set for at least 5 minutes. Then I use the paper towel to rub off most of the skin and charred bits. Chop and put into a bowl. I noticed that Trader Joes sells roasted peppers in jars -- this could be a real time saver. Feel free to substitute. For the asparagus you can either blanch them in boiling water for a minute then plunge them into ice water to maintain their color, or do as I do -- wrap them in paper towels after snapping the stalks then microwave them for about 1 to 2 minutes. Cut into bite size pieces and then add them to your big bowl with the peppers. Slice the green onions -- do as many of these vegetables as you like. This is all "to taste" -- add what you want -- olives, some green beans, whatever.

Cook the pasta according to the package directions for al dente. Drain and add enough Olive Garden Salad Dressing to really coat every piece of pasta. You want to add the dressing to the pasta while it is still warm -- it will be absorbed better when warm. Continue putting everything into the pasta mix : grated asiago cheese, salami, mozzarella cheese balls (which I bought at Trader Joes) everything-- being careful when adding the tomatoes not to break them.. You will probably need to add more grated asiago cheese and Olive Garden Salad Dressing a couple of times throughout this process -- remember that this is "to taste". You may even need to drizzle the pasta salad the next day right before serving with a little more Olive Garden Salad Dressing and a last sprinkle of grated asiago cheese. This will last about 3 days in the frig. After that, the pasta starts to break down but by then we've usually eaten all of it!

I always make this the day before the event. The flavors seem to meld better. Enjoy!