Mediterranean Pasta Salad with Red Wine Vinaigrette

This delicious mediterranean pasta salad with red wine vinaigrette gets its full flavor from fresh herbs, vegetables, tomatoes, mozzarella, olives, and the star of the dish: crispy salami. This salad is made tangy and refreshing with the vinegar dressing. Summer is the perfect time of year for this dish since most of the ingredients are able to be plucked right out of your garden (or local farmer’s market)!

My husband and I have never had a vegetable garden before this summer. Being self-proclaimed “foodies” this may seem a bit surprising to you. To be honest, we’ve always told ourselves “we’re just too busy to deal with a garden” and “it’s too much work.” Our issue is that we were thinking too big. We wanted to grow ALL the vegetables possible and that was overwhelming. Instead, we needed to start small. My husband built a tall raised bed garden about 7ft long and 3ft wide (about 2 meters x 1 meter). We have a handful of fresh herb plants that multiply as fast as we can harvest them. Also, we now have 8 tomato plants of different varieties, cucumbers, summer squash, and pepper plants.

Your garden can be any size- large or small. It can be a potted tomato plant on your patio or a huge, large scale in-ground garden. For a long time, all we had was an indoor herb garden. We used this super awesome all-in-one herb garden that waters your plants and has a grow light. Amazon sells comparable options as well.

Ingredients used for Mediterranean Pasta Salad

Red Wine Vinaigrette

• Red wine vinegar
•  Extra-virgin olive oil
•  Garlic
•  Oregano, fresh or dried
•  Red onion
•  Salt and pepper
•  Parsley & basil

Pasta Salad

• Dried noodles, uncooked *see notes
•  Olives, Kalamata preferred (Substitutions: pepperoncini, green olives, black olives, or artichokes)
•  Cherry tomatoes, halved (Substitutions: diced Roma tomatoes, sundried tomatoes)
•  Cucumber, sliced
•  Spinach, coarsely chopped (Substitutions: arugula, micro greens, more fresh basil)
•  Fresh mozzarella pearls (Substitutions: feta cheese crumbles or parmesan)
•  Salami slices (Substitutions: prosciutto (parma ham), pepperoni, or any other salty preserved meat)

How to make the red wine vinaigrette

1. In the bowl of a food processor, combine the vinegar, olive oil, garlic, oregano, red onion, salt and pepper. Blitz on high until thoroughly combined, about 15-20 seconds. If you don’t have a food processor, add all ingredients to a lidded mason jar or glass bottle. Shake vigorously to combine.
2. Pour into the bottom of a large bowl to sit and marinate. Stir in the roughly chopped parsley and basil. Let this sit while you start making your pasta.

Crisping the salami

1. Crisping salami is almost exactly like crisping up bacon. To do so, prepare by setting a paper towel on a clean plate so you can soak up the grease on the cooked salami.
2. Stovetop Method: Place a medium-sized saucepan over medium-high heat on the stove. Do not add any grease or oil. Once the pan is quite hot, add a thin layer of salami to the pan. It will almost immediately start to crisp and bubble. If your salami is very thin, cooking 15-30 seconds on each side is sufficient. If your salami is a little thicker, 30-45 seconds on each side should do. You should see the salami turn a little darker in color as the fat melts and you’ll notice a bacon-like crisp forming on the edges. Do not cook them so long that they burn. You may need to do a few batches to cook all the salami.
3. Oven Method: Preheat your oven to 350F/176C Place your salami on a parchment-lined sheet pan. Cook for 10-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of your salami.
4. Once your salami slices are crisped, transfer them to the paper towel lined plate to cool for 5 minutes. They will continue to crisp further while cooling. Once cooled, slice into 1 cm sized strips. Toss into your salad. Crisping your salami prevents the slices from getting too soggy.

How to assemble the salad

1. Once your stovetop water is boiling, pour in the noodles and cook until the noodles are cooked through perfectly. Softer than al dente, harder than mushy over-cooked pasta. Follow directions on the box of noodles for most accurate boiling time for the pasta shape you’re cooking. Strain the noodles when finished cooking. Run cold water over the noodles in the strainer to preserve the perfect firmness. Let sit for 1-2 minutes to strain out excess water.
2. Add the noodles right to the large bowl of vinaigrette and toss to coat thoroughly.
3. Add the olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, spinach, and mozzarella. Toss again to coat.
4. Gently mix in the cut crispy salami, stirring one last time.
5. Drizzle with additional olive oil, vinegar, and/or top with fresh cracked pepper.

Tips for making the best pasta salad

• Pasta: Try to choose a short noodle that has a nice shape to it so it will hold and absorb the dressing well. I used orzo as that was all I had on hand at the moment. Bowties, spirals, and penne would all work very well!
• Salt your pasta water for max flavor!
• Cook the noodles perfectly: Undercooked noodles are too hard and chewy. Overcooked noodles just turn mushy. Stop cooking your noodles as soon as they are cooked through perfectly. Run cold water over them briefly in the strainer to halt the cooking process quickly.
• Use the freshest ingredients. Your vegetables and tomatoes will keep better if they are nice and fresh. If your ingredients have already been sitting in your refrigerator quite a while, they may turn soggy sooner than you’d like.
• Pasta Salad can be eaten right away, but I prefer to let mine sit and soak up extra flavor in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours prior to eating. This salad keeps best up to 2 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It’s not quite as good on days 3-4 if it lasts that long in your house! 

More delicious summer salad recipes

• Thai Peanut Salad: This refreshing, crunchy Thai salad is topped with the most amazing peanut dressing! Perfect on its own for a meal or as a lunch or dinner side dish.
• Curry Chicken Salad: This easy curry chicken salad recipe is your next favorite addition to sandwiches, wraps, and bagels. You can serve it with greens for a light meal or as a side dish.
• Greek Salad: Loaded with fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, shallots, olives, and feta cheese. Refreshing and simple salad.
• Tabbouleh Salad: My favorite tabbouleh recipe. Fresh, light and perfect for sharing. It’s a classic recipe with a simple dressing of lemon juice, olive oil, and salt.

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