Greek Style Pasta Salad
One of my August 2013 recipes for National Foundation for Celiac Awareness - now Beyond Celiac.
Most pasta salads are made with a mayo base which is very high in fat calories as well as cholesterol. Additionally, people are scared of a mayo based salad thinking that in the summer they can get salmonella from the mayo. According to the experts, since bought mayo is pasteurized, it can’t develop salmonella but it can go sour in the heat. I make the dressing with yogurt, you could use olive oil and lemon juice vinaigrette instead for dairy free, both are a reduction in calories and cholesterol. But yes, with yogurt it stills needs refrigeration. In the past I used a lemon custard style yogurt but can't find it now. You can add herbs to mix with yogurt and allow immersion blender to chop the herbs finely.
1 cup (6 oz) raw penne, ziti or rotini or even tinier gf pasta if you can find it. I originally made this with orzo.
½ tsp (3 ml) salt, ¼ tsp black pepper - add more to your taste once salad has been chilled
2 tbsp (30ml) of the green of green onions/scallions/spring onions washed and scissored thin
1 tbsp (15 ml) chopped, fresh mint
1/4 c (60ml) fresh chopped flat parsley
2 tbsp (30 ml) chopped, fresh dill.
1/2 c (4 fl oz, 120 ml) plain Greek yogurt or lemon flavor
1/2 c (4 fl oz, 120 ml) vanilla yogurt
zest of half a lemon
1/2 x 14-16 oz (400-500g) can artichoke hearts in brine, drained, rinsed and chopped
2 tbsp (30 ml) black olives, drained, rinsed and sliced (Trader Joes does small can pre-sliced)optional
½ lb (250 g) grape tomatoes, washed, dried and ¼’d or 4 large Campari tomatoes chopped
1 English cucumber, peeled, deseeded and cut into ¼-1/2” dice
2 tbsp (30ml) gf finely chopped dill pickle – I like the bread and butter pickle as it's not so vinegary.
1/2 raw red bell pepper, deseeded and cut into small dice - optional
Carrot flowers and green onion fans to garnish.
1. Cook pasta in boiling water according to packet instructions. Drain and rinse in cold water to stop cooking and chill pasta. Make sure pasta is definitely cooked. One time it tasted cooked but once cold it was definitely still far too hard and very undercooked.
2. Place zest of lemon, salt, pepper in mixing jug. Add yogurts and whisk or use immersion blender to form an emulsion.
3. Add mint, parsley, dill and green onion to jug and mix.
4. Place pasta in large bowl. Stir in vinaigrette.
5. Add artichoke hearts, olives, tomatoes, cucumber, pickle and red bell pepper.
6. Taste and adjust seasoning. Chill before serving, but it is nicer at room temperature.
7. Garnish with carrot flowers and green onion fans.
Sprinkle with Feta cheese on serving if you want. One of my husband's favorites.
NOTE: Immersion blender is available locally for between $20-25.00, normally sold with mini food processor for chopping one slice of bread, some nuts, pesto, vinaigrette etc. You can purée directly in the mixing bowl without transferring to a food processor or blender and blade section normally unscrews from electric body so blades can be washed in dishwasher.
