Antipasti Pasta Salad
This salad is a flavour bomb of everyone’s favourite antipasti ingredients, and is a great recipe to have up your sleeve if you don’t love to cook. If you can boil a pot of pasta, you can make this salad. The rest of the work is done through the mastery of pickling and preserving – other people’s pickling and preserving. With the added freshness of rocket (arugula) and basil, the tang of parmesan and the crunch of pine nuts, this pasta salad is a crowd pleaser that never fails to hit the spot.
Ingredients 12
Dressing
2 tbsp olive tapenade, store bought or see tip, plus extra if needed
Salad
300 g dried pasta, cooked according to packet instructions, i like penne for this one
2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra if needed
2 tbsp capers
100 g semi-dried tomatoes, halved
100 g roasted red capsicum (bell pepper), sliced
100 g artichoke hearts, preferably the kind that are pickled in vinegar, quartered
Handful rocket (arugula), sliced if stems are long
Handful basil leaves, larger ones roughly chopped or sliced
Handful pine nuts, toasted
100 g shaved parmesan cheese
chilli flakes, to serve
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Method 3
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the and cook according to the directions on the packet. Drain, then run under lots of running cold water until cool. Shake off any excess water, then add to a large bowl and stir the through the pasta, ensuring it is evenly coated.
Add the , , and , and stir so everything is well combined. Depending on whether your deli delights were pickled in brine or marinated in oil, the pasta should be coated in a thin layer of oil, but not dripping. Add , 1 teaspoon at a time, or more if you think it needs it.
When ready to eat, add the , , most of the and most of the . Toss to combine, then top with the remaining pine nuts and parmesan, and chilli flakes or freshly cracked black pepper, to taste.
Jessica Prescott's tips
To make your own olive tapenade: Place 100 g (3½ oz) pitted kalamata olives in a food processor or blender with a small chamber attachment. Blitz until the olives are in small chunks, then slowly pour approx. 2 tablespoons of olive oil in with the blender running and continue to run
until the tapenade is as smooth as you would like (I like to leave mine on the chunky side).
