Pasta salad…in a martini glass? WHY NOT!

This is a Tannehill family favorite ~ my mom made this all the time, especially in the summer for barbecues and parties.

The original recipe should NEVER be tampered with, but alas, I had hardly any of the correct ingredients. I still captured its spirit, though!

And then went and ruined it by putting it in a martini glass ~ ha ha ha.

I will tell you that I ate a huge plate of it, and no martini glasses were harmed.

The original recipe has pepperoni, cubed cheddar cheese, lots of Parmesan cheese, rotini noodles, and canned black olives, to name a few delicious ingredients.

The recipe I made today has hard salami, no cheese because I didn’t have any, Cotija cheese (which is just the Mexican version of parm), fresh tortellini, jarred roasted red peppers, and jarred kalamata olives.

As most of you know, it’s easy to switch out different ingredients and keep the same general idea for a dish, if you know what the key “flavor makers” are. This pasta salad requires a vinegary dressing with lots of oregano, to give that pizza sauce flavor. That dressing seems to be the most important thing to remind me of the original. It doesn’t even need the pasta. But, of course, it’s amazing with it.

I also LOVE pepperoni in this pasta salad, but the hard salami is really working too.

Here’s the recipe, with both the original and today’s ingredients:

PIZZA PASTA SALAD

• Cook and drain your favorite kind of pasta. Not too small, and not long linguine-style. Rotini, penne, tortellini ~ all good choices. Don’t forget gluten-free pasta choices!
• Italian dressing: whisk the following into the bottom of a large bowl ~ olive oil, red wine vinegar, lots of dried oregano, salt and pepper, and a little crushed red pepper. Add honey if you like it sweet.
• Chop and drop the rest into the bowl, along with the warm pasta, which will soak up the dressing better when warm: pepperoni or sausage, diced tomatoes (I like grape tomatoes), sliced green onions, canned black olives or jarred kalamata olives, jarred pimientos or jarred chopped roasted red pepper, cubed cheddar cheese or none, and grated Parmesan cheese.

Mom, did I forget anything?

I hope I didn’t confuse you too much with all the different options, but I did it to make sure you know that you don’t have to go to the store, or use the same exact ingredients to get the same flavors you’re craving. I really cleaned out my fridge this morning and ended up with a yummy salad we can munch on all weekend!