This recipe is completely lawful and perfect for Sabbath. Easy to pull together, this pasta salad offers a twist on the traditional. The portion below makes a very full 9×13 pan, which can easily feed several people. Feel free to cut the recipe in half if feeding a smaller bunch. Enjoy!
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Ingredients
24 oz tri-color pasta
5 oz pepperoni, cut into thin strips
6.5 oz sundried tomato pesto
8 oz mozzarella pearls
1 red onion, diced
1 pint of cherry/grape tomatoes slices OR 4-6 Roma tomatoes diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
10 oz shredded carrots
5 oz black olives
1/2 cup + 4 tbsp grated parmesan (plus more for garnishing)
1.5 cups shredded five-cheese Italian blend
2.5 tbsp olive oil
1.5 tsp sugar
1 tsp black pepper
2.5 tbsp Italian seasoning
2 tbsp garlic powder
3/4 cup Zesty Italian dressing (Ken’s brand)
Texas Pete’s Pepper Sauce for garnish (optional)
Directions
- Cook pasta according to package instructions, but only to al dente. Be very careful not to overcook pasta. Coat with oil and set aside.
- Add pepperoni and all vegetables, and incorporate. Once nicely blended, add all cheeses and combine.
- In a separate bowl mix sundried tomato pesto, Italian dressing, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, pepper, and sugar, and mix completely. Once mixed, pour over pasta mixture and combine. Set in the fridge for at least an hour.
- Remove from the fridge, stir and taste. Now that you’ve let the flavors meld a bit, you will have a better idea if you need salt, if at all. Remember, the cheese and dressing are already salty, so you may be able to skip the salt all together.
- Add parm to garnish, with a couple dashes of the pepper sauce and serve. If not serving right away, hold off on garnishing. Set in the fridge covered until ready to serve. Enjoy!
Next time I make this I plan to add more sundried pesto. Feel free to tweak to your desired taste as well!