Pasta Salad

Name: Pasta Salad
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 8
Ingredients: 1 lb pasta (rotini or fusilli — shapes that hold dressing); 1 cup italian dressing (the catalog's, divided); 1 ½ cup cherry tomatoes (halved); 1 unit cucumber (quartered and sliced); 1 unit bell pepper (diced); ¾ cup olives (halved); 1 unit onion (red, slivered); 8 oz mozzarella (fresh, small balls or cubes); 1 tsp salt; ½ tsp black pepper

Vegetables & Salads · American

10 ingredients · 35 minutes · 8 servings

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326kcal13.4g protein9.2g fat47.7g carbs*

Contains gluten, dairy

Restrictions

Containsgluten · dairyIt is in an ingredient you cannot leave out.

Diets

VegetarianPescatarianNo porkNo alcohol

Worked out from the ingredient list. It knows nothing about brands, shared equipment or cross contamination, and it is not a certification — if you have an allergy, you still have to read the label.

Ingredients

Servings:

1 lb	pasta (rotini or fusilli — shapes that hold dressing)
1 cup	italian dressing (the catalog's, divided)
1 ½ cup	cherry tomatoes (halved)
1 unit	cucumber (quartered and sliced)
1 unit	bell pepper (diced)
¾ cup	olives (halved)
1 unit	onion (red, slivered)
8 oz	mozzarella (fresh, small balls or cubes)
1 tsp	salt
½ tsp	black pepper

Optional

Not counted above. The dish works without them.

⅓ cup	basil (torn, at serving)
⅓ cup	pecorino or Parmesan (grated over)

Steps

Boil11 min
very salted water, 1-2 minutes PAST the package — the cold rule
- pasta
- italian dressing
the counterintuitive instruction that separates picnic-good from chewy: pasta destined for the refrigerator cooks a step softer than pasta for the plate, because chilling firms starch — al dente today is undercooked tomorrow; drained and spread on a sheet to cool WITHOUT rinsing away the starch the dressing needs
Toss3 min
half the dressing on warm pasta
the first dressing while the pasta is still warm — warm pasta absorbs; cold pasta wears. This split-dressing move is the entry's technique headline and works on every cold pasta and potato salad ever made
Fold5 min
vegetables + olives + mozzarella + salt + pepper
- olives
- mozzarella
everything through the cooled base — then refrigerated at least an hour and up to a day, which is not a compromise but the design: this dish exists because it improves unattended while everything else demands attention
Season3 min
at serving: remaining dressing + basil + cheese, re-tasted
- basil
the second dressing to wake the surface, torn basil and grated cheese over, and salt re-checked — cold mutes seasoning, so the salad that tasted right yesterday needs the adjustment today; the double-dress and re-salt are why this one gets eaten first at the potluck