After repeated discussions of salads, olive oils, and then briefly mentioning feta cheese, I began to crave a pasta salad I make. For me, this would be more than enough for a meal, BUT I know my parents. Salad for dinner isn't really dinner. Something needs to be combined, so for this evening we're going to have pasta salad and steak flat bread sandwiches. Normally, these would be steak pita sandwiches, but alas, I live in a tiny town presently and when I asked for pitas I was met with the response: "Do you mean pizzas?"
After a blank stare and a forced smile I said "No, but thank you" and quickly shuffled away, eye twitching and all.
Anyway, the meat for the sandwiches is simple enough. I marinate it in balsamic vinegar, worchestershire, olive oil, salt, (normally pepper, but as Mom is allergic, I add this later to mine,) a little garlic, onion, and little rosemary (which I grind to a powder with my spice grinder.) Marinate the meat in this for at least 4 hours, but 24 hours is ideal.
I also make a sauce for the sandwiches. it is comprised of Greek yogurt, cucumber (peeled, seeded and minced,) red onion (minced as well,) celery seed, sea salt, (pepper again, if I can,) garlic powder, and paprika. I mix it up and let it sit in the fridge so the flavors come together.
Now for the fun part. The pasta salad. This make a nice large bowl full, its delicious, and its super easy. Below is what you will need.
-6 oz of Crumbled Feta Cheese
-1 Can of Artichoke Hearts, quartered
-1 Can of Chick Peas
-1 Jar of Sliced Kalamata Olives
-1/2 cup of Chopped Red Onion
-2 Bell peppers, preferably yellow, orange or red
-1 12 oz box of dry tri-color rotini, boiled and cooled
-1 bottle of Greek Vinaigrette
I really feel like I can't begin to explain enough just how easy this is to make. Pre-boil the pasta and let it cool while you do everything else. I cheated this time and bought the package of pre-chopped onions mostly because I only needed enough for tonight and it was right by where I was walking. Clean all the raw vegetable (minus these precut ones. they're already good to go.) The tomatoes are good to go, so go ahead and toss them and about half a cup of your onions into your large bowl.
Next, grab a colander and dump your artichokes, chickpeas and olives into it. Let them drain. Meanwhile, take your bell peppers and chop them.
For those who don't know, the easiest way to deseed a bell pepper is to cut the top off and then pull it off, which brings the seed membrane out. You can then shake the seeds that may have fallen into the pepper out into the garbage and discard the top...
Or if you have a pepper-eating fiend for a dog like I do, you can just use her as your pepper disposal. ;)
Once the everything is chopped and drained, mix all the ingredients in your large bowl. Pour the entire bottle of vinaigrette over it, mix well, and refrigerate before serving. :)
(Sorry for lack of photos with this post. Blogger and I aren't getting along today.)
