nagi's big easy pasta salad
with cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, and feta
Whoo, this was actually decently easy to make a huge batch.
ingredients
for the dressing
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil - doesn't need to the best stuff tho
⅙ cup apple cider vinegar / red or white wine or champagne vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced using garlic press or very finely minced using a knife
1 tsp dijon mustard (optional)
1 tsp honey (sub maple syrup or 1 tsp sugar) - cuts the sharpness of the vinegar so we can get away with using way less oil than the typical 1:3 vinegar to oil ratio
¾ tsp Italian herbs mix
½ tsp cooking salt / kosher salt
⅛ tsp black pepper
for the salad
250g farfalle, or other short/medium pasta
1 cucumber, halved lengthways and finely sliced (~17cm/7" long, sliced 2mm / 1/16", Nagi uses a mandolin)
250g cherry or grape tomatoes, halved (or chop 4 regular tomatoes)
⅙ cup roughly chopped Kalamata olives (1 cup whole or ¼ cup sliced, then chop)
100g Greek feta - Nagi cuts into ¼" batons but our feta doesn't really crumble as much so I'd probably hand crumble next time
½ packed cup basil leaves, torn by hand. Other alternatives: ½ cup roughly chopped dill or fallback of ½ teaspoon dried oregano into the dressing
steps
Dressing - Shake the Dressing ingredients in a large jar. It should be sharp, the flavour mellows once tossed.
Cook pasta until soft - Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Cook the pasta until it is very soft, about 2 - 3 minutes longer than the time on the packet but taste to check because packet directions have been known to lie! Pasta firms up when it's cold (nobody likes hard, cold pasta!), so cook the pasta until extra soft.
Flavour soak - Drain the pasta very well, shaking off excess water. Transfer into a large bowl. Give the Dressing a good shake then pour over about two-thirds. Toss well, then leave the pasta to soak up the dressing as it cools (~40 minutes).
Toss - Add the tomato, cucumber, feta and olives. Pour over the remaining Dressing. Toss well. Add basil (unless you're making ahead of a party, then don't add the basil until you're ready to serve), toss again.
Serve - Tumble into big serving bowl. Dig in!
Note: storage - as all good pasta salads should be, this is excellent served freshly made, just as good (some say even better) the next day, and still very, very good for another 2 days. Don't forget to always serve at room temp!!
