Muffaletta/ Primavera Pasta Salad

We hope You Had A Great Independence Day

We decided to have a small Independence Day get together of just our “circle of trust” friends on the dock and while it was a 90F day, it was pretty comfortable by the water.  

While we waited for the others, Joe and I visited and Bev did a little decorating.

Since we had offered the dock to a friend to use on the fourth with visiting family, we did ours on July 3.  We tried to take the necessary protective measures of temperature checks, hand washing, and social distancing.

I wanted to make pasta salad for our Independence Day meal and I wanted plenty for leftovers.  I couldn’t decide between primavera (veggies) and muffaletta (New Orleans sandwich) so I combined them and got the following recipe, which makes a lot – use just half everything for a normal batch.

Muffaletta/ Primavera Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

2 lb. small shaped pasta (I used rotini and small shells – had on hand)

3 cups yellow squash, half moons

3 cups broccoli, small florets

2 cups red bell pepper, medium dice

2 cups frozen peas, thawed

1 jar marinated artichoke hearts, halved or quartered

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 tsp. each dried oregano, basil, thyme leaves

1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1 (6 ounce) jar Italian mix giardiniera, chopped

½ cup chopped roasted red peppers

½ cup pimento stuffed olives, sliced

½ cup sliced kalamata olives, halved

½ cup sliced black olives, sliced

2 tablespoons capers, drained

4 ounces Genoa salami, cut into bite size pieces

4 ounces ham, cut into matchsticks 

4 ounces provolone cheese, cut into bite size pieces – note 1

4 ounces mozzarella cheese, cut into bite size pieces – note 1

1½-2 bottles Newman’s Italian Dressing

Note 1: I used 8oz. of  the fine shredded Italian Style cheese that we had on hand – it contained mozzarella, provolone, parmesan, romano, fontina, and asiago.

Directions:

1. Prep the broccoli, squash, and peppers and thaw the peas.  Veggie amounts and types can be adjusted to suit you.

2. Prepare the olive salad by mixing the artichoke hearts, garlic, dried herbs, black pepper, giardiniera, roasted red peppers, olives, and capers.  You can also use 2-3 cups of store bought olive salad.

3. Prep the meat and cheese.

4. While prepping, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over medium-high heat.  Cook pasta according to package directions.  Remove from heat and drain.

5. Add the prepped veggies to the drained pasta pan, pour the hot pasta over it, and stir to combine – this will cook the veggies a little.

6. Stir the salad dressing into the pasta then stir in the olive salad, meat, and cheese.

7. Taste and adjust seasoning and salad dressing.

This is half of the recipe in a 13" bowl.

We served it with burgers, dogs and melon.  My plate with a delicious large wiener and Bev's homemade sauce for my hot dog.

Then for dessert it was homemade vanilla ice cream courtesy of our neighbors.

We had a nice little outing and the pasta salad was a big hit – it is full of goodies and they went well together.  Several folks took home a bowl full for later, commenting it was the best they ever had.  This is my bowl for Saturday's lunch and it will definitely be made again but just a half recipe and maybe with a little sweet onion.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

7/3/20 event date