Marinated Pasta Salad

Way back, when I had less cookbooks and more sense, I used one cookbook over and over. It was "A Pinch of Salt Lake". It was my close friend when we moved from Salt Lake to Portland, Oregon (mid 80's). Grant was in law school. Corrine ( two years old) and I spent a lot of time in our little apartment. I tried most of the recipes out in that book, and loved or at least liked the majority. Some of my fav's were: Layered Seafood Spread, Crustless Crab Quiche, Mexican Breakfast, Orange Glazed Crescent Rolls, Spinach Herb Twists, Asian Noodles and Slaw, Crepes with Crab and Spinach, Cold Lemon Chicken. The list goes on and on. Even after collecting cookbooks for over 25 years, POSL is still one of my favorites for consistently great recipes. This is a delish salad, easy, fresh. Sprinkling the dry Good Season's Italian over the veggies and pasta really make the flavor stick to all of the ingredients. You can change the vegetable to suit your taste. I like the olives, not only bc I'm an olive lover, but also for the color. Oh- one last thing - I think it's out of print now, but can always be found on ebay or Amazon.

Marinated Pasta Salad

Pinch of Salt Lake

print recipe

1 lb pasta, any shape

1/4 of a Bermuda onion, chopped

1 yellow pepper, sliced

2 carrots, thinly sliced

2 small zucchini, thinly sliced

2-3 cups broccoli flowerlettes

1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced

1 large can pitted olives, whole

1 - .07 oz. package dry Good Seasons Italian dressing mix

1-16 oz. Bernstein's Cheese and Garlic Italian dressing

Cook pasta according to package directions. Immerse in cold water, drain and set aside.

Wash and cut vegetables, place in a large bowl. Add cooked pasta and sprinkle with dry dressing mix. Add a generous amount of fresh ground pepper. Pour bottled dressing over all, toss and refrigerate. Just before serving, grate fresh Parmesan or Romano cheese over all of the salad.

Tips:

-If you are waiting more than 3 hours to serve, add the mushrooms and grated cheese just before serving.

-If you like the broccoli tender, and bright green, blanch before adding to salad.

What is blanching? Blanching is a cooking term that describes a process of food preparation wherein the food substance, usually a vegetable or fruit, is plunged into boiling water, removed after a brief, timed interval and finally plunged into iced water or placed under cold running water (shocked) to halt the cooking process.

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