Greek Inspired Tortellini Salad
It’s SPRING Y’ALL!!! There were a few weeks where it would dip into the still kind of cold temps, but it seems spring is here to stay! We’ve already gone out on the boat to soak up the sun, had a neighborhood block party, it’s my favorite time of the year 🙂 This recipe in fact was made for our block party, and with Memorial Day coming up towards the end of the month, I figured I would work to get some recipes out that would be good for cookouts, etc.
Also I know this is not a huge deal to some of you, but I recently had the desire to get a set of stainless steel mixing bowls that were lighter weight than my glass bowls. I did some research and with America’s Test Kitchen’s help (this video is the one I watched), I decided on these. And I absolutely love them! They are wide enough that mixing anything is a breeze, and they also have an awesome rim that allows me to pour liquids out of them too! So you might see future posts in these bowls because they are my new favorite kitchen tool 🙂
This pasta salad is a family favorite. There are actually no measurements given to the original recipe, but over the past few years I’ve been tweaking it to find the amounts of each that I find to be best, and that’s what I’ll be sharing with you today. It is on the briny side with two different kinds of olives, artichoke hearts, and a lemon juice based dressing. That being said, I’m obsessed with briny foods so this is a favorite of mine <3 This is also chock full of veggies so I like to think of this as a healthier pasta salad!
I hope you make this! And if you do, please tag me @nommingwithnicola and #nommingwithnicola so I can see your recreations. I would love to share on social media what you are able to do! And pin for later here:
Greek Inspired Tortellini Salad
Ingredients
Pasta Salad Ingredients:
- 1 20 oz pack 3-cheese fresh tortellini (I used Buitoni brand)
- 1 head broccoli crowns cut into small pieces
- 1 english cucumber diced
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes halved or quartered
- 1/2 medium red onion diced
- 1 8oz jar marinated artichoke hearts in oil reserve the oil
- 1 large carrot thinly sliced in rounds
- 1 cup small stuffed green olives
- 1 cup small to medium black olives
For the Dressing:
- 4 cloves garlic minced or grated
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp reserved artichoke heart oil
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Prepare tortellini according to package instructions.
- While tortellini is cooking, prep the rest of the ingredients. The only other cooking that is required is a light steam on the broccoli. I steam it for 3-4 minutes until bright green but it still remains some crunch.
- Add the rest of the pasta salad ingredients together in a bowl, and add the tortellini and broccoli when they are cooked.
- Toss in the dressing ingredients and enjoy!