Recipe

Pasta salad with garlic vinaigrette

A super fast, easy and healthy pasta salad with garlic vinaigrette. The herbs add a lot of flavour to this recipe; purple basil, also known as opal basil, has an intense aroma and longer shelf-life than sweet basil.

Dec 31, 2006 1:00pm
  • 30 mins cooking
  • Serves 10
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Ingredients

Pasta salad with garlic vinaigrette
  • 500 gram penne pasta
  • 200 gram jar sun-dried tomatoes in oil
  • 1/2 cup (80g) pine nuts, toasted, chopped coarsely
  • 400 gram bocconcini cheese, chopped
  • 1 small (100g) red onion, sliced
  • 12 purple basil leaves, torn
  • 12 basil leaves, torn
Garlic vinaigrette
  • 2 clove garlic, crushed
  • 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
  • 1/4 cup (60ml) olive oil
  • 1/4 cup (60ml) lemon juice

Method

Pasta salad with garlic vinaigrette
  • 1
    Add the pasta to a large pan of boiling water, boil, uncovered, until tender; drain. Rinse under cold water and drain well.
  • 2
    Drain sun-dried tomatoes and reserve the oil for the garlic vinaigrette — you will need ¼ cup (60ml). Slice the tomatoes.
  • 3
    Just before serving, combine pasta, tomatoes, nuts, cheese, onion, basil and salt and pepper to taste in a large bowl. Add garlic vinaigrette and toss gently.
  • 4
    For the garlic vinaigrette, combine all of the ingredients, including sun-dried tomato oil, in a screw-top jar and shake well.

Notes

Ingredients can be prepared six hours ahead. Combine salad just before serving. The pine nuts are chopped in this recipe as it helps them to cling to the pasta.

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