Easy Pasta Salad Recipe

One of the great pleasures of traveling to Italy is to enjoy traditional Italian cuisine, true. What is known outside is just one - or many versions of a small part of a cuisine that is very varied and different from region to region. Because in Italy everything is not pizza and spaghetti for children. Northern Italy is the coldest region of the country, so their meals typical are the most compelling. Less olive oil, tomato and dry pasta.

People prefer soups, and boiled meat cooked in wine and butter. These are the regions with most foreign influences from French, German, Austrian, Hungarian or Slav, depending on the area.

Some of the best known Italian food ingredients are here. Two of the most famous pasta sauces are from here. It is the bolognese - alla bolognese ragù - Emilia - Romagna and pesto from Liguria. The fresh egg pasta is more typical of northern Italy. The tagliatelle and lasagna originate in Emilia Romagna.

And there are many types of stuffed pasta, from agnolotti Piedmont to anolini of Parma, in Emilia Romagna, through the tortelli pumpkin Mantua in Lombardy.

Okay, it looks like the pasta is Chinese, but that is another issue that is better not to get into in Italy, in particular in Naples, whose cuisine is probably the most international of Italy. In southern Italy, the islands of Sicilia and Sardinia have their own culinary identity. Pizza, spaghetti, macaroni, tomatoes, mozzarella, basil...sea and sun. These are the ingredients that have made known the Italian cuisine worldwide.

The tomatoes of many kinds, including the famous pomodori di San Marzano, elongated and used for pasta- sauces are great protagonists of the cuisine of southern Italy.



Pasta alla Norma is pasta with tomatoes, fried eggplant, ricotta salata and basil sheet. Parmigiana, my favorite dish is a dish made with fried baked eggplant, tomato, mozzarella, basil and Parmesan. It is not known for sure if it is of Sicilian or Neapolitan origin.

Malloreddus is a type of semolina pasta that is usually eaten with ragout and salsicce, or with tomato sauce, Italian sausage, onion, grated Sardinian pecorino cheese and saffron. The culurgiones are stuffed semolina pasta, usually with ricotta and mint or potato, fresh cheese and mint, are usually eaten with tomato sauce and grated pecorino cheese.

The orecchiette are fresh pasta made with semolina and egg. They look like a small ears, hence its name (in Italian orecchiette means "little ears" ). One of the most common sauces with accompanying tomato is the horsemeat.

Pasta alla checca is usually "short" pasta (penne, maccheroni, fusilli, farfalle) with cheese mozzarella (usually of buffalo), sheep cheese called Roman Caciotta, fresh tomatoes (often cherry's) and fresh basil.

Pasta e fagioli or pasta and fasoi in Veneto is a bowl of spoon based pasta, beans and usually bacon, which is very common throughout Italy. It was born as a dish of the poor in ancient Rome, where it was prepared with a paste called sagne, like short noodles, and then captured up to Cicerone, although the origin of the pulp appears subsequently.

One of the regions where the tradition is more is precisely the Veneto. The ingredients, including the variety of pasta, vary from one area to another. If you have not ever tried the combination it may sound like weird, but is exquisite.

Strictly served cold, the pasta salad, together with the rice salad is one of the stars of summer recipes. With the addition of a few other ingredients, it can be transformed into a single flat light dish, for a drink with friends or an evening watching a game. You can serve it at dinner, keep it for a healthy lunch break or prepare in advance for picnics on the beach or in the mountains and buffets in the open air or a barbecue, which everyone will appreciate.

The Mediterranean pasta salad is a tasty first summer dish, perfect to prepare in the warmer months, when the urge to stand at the stove is less and the desire for simple dishes grows with fresh and rich scents of summer. With mozzarella, tuna, tomatoes, olives and a shower of fresh basil, this colorful dish like butterflies will enchant you with its southern and inviting vortex.

Like the pasta salad with eggplant and sun-dried tomatoes or the classic cold pasta, the Mediterranean pasta salad can become the versatile star of a dinner with friends and family. Try to put the pasta salad in your tiffinbox, to take to the sea or in the office and you will be an instant hero among your buddies!

The pasta salads have the great advantage of being full plates, whose preparation can unleash the imagination, enriching the pasta, whether short or long, depending on your tastes, with all kinds of ingredients like meats, vegetables, pickles, cheese and fish.

Remember that pasta salads should be served very cold, but be careful not to overcook the pasta. The pasta salad can be made of many more or less famous variants. With a little fantasy you can also create a version with your favorite ingredients. If you feel like experimenting, you can pull over and taste different flavors.

For example, you can replace the mozzarella with a little feta or use more unusual ingredients such as nuts, avocado and tofu. The combinations and flavors that you can get are so many!

Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 10 mins
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 363 calories

Ingredients:

250 gms pasta
2 tomatoes
2 tbsp oil
1 onion
10 olives
1 cup corn
Basil leaves
Mozzarella
Salt and pepper

Recipe Method

Cook pasta in well salted water with some oil in medium heat.

Then cut the tomatoes and the mozzarella into four parts, the pit the olives into rings and chop the basil with your hands. Saute the onion in the olive oil until softened. Add the olives, warm through and remove from the heat.

Drain the cooked pasta and toss with the onions and olives. Add corn, toss and serve with additional salt and pepper and green onion as garnish.

Microwave Pasta Salad

Combine water and noodles in a microwave safe dish, and microwave on high for 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until noodles are done to your desired consistency.

While the noodles are cooking, prepare the vegetables and set aside. When noodles are cooked, drain water, and rinse with cold water to cool down the noodles.

Place to noodles in a serving bowl. Add olive oil, egg and salad dressing, and mix until all noodles are covered. Finally, top with fresh cheese.