pasta salad, Mediterranean-style

Pasta fredda mediterranea

Pasta salad with tomatoes, oregano and mozzarella Our original home cooking

This pasta salad is a recipe of ours. Our guests love it very much for its typical Mediterranean ingredients: tomatoes, oregano and other aromatic herbs, mozzarella and chili-flavored pasta.
This main cold dish is ideal for celebration menus (such as buffet) or alfresco dinner or every time you have a lot of guests. The doses are enough for 12 people. Look at the photo for more details.
The main ingredients are: chili-flavored short pasta, fresh tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, anchovies in oil, basil, oregano, chives, olive oil. Here's the recipe!

pasta salad - the image shows chilli pasta dressed with tomato and mozzarella — Pasta salad (insalata di pasta) with tomatoes, mozzarella and oregano

yeld for 12

1 400 g (14 1/4oz) can chopped tomatoes or 700 g (1lb and 8 3/4oz) fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
6 teaspoons anchovy fillets in oil, drained, finely chopped
4 tablespoons dried chives
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons minced fresh basil
375 g (13 1/4oz) mozzarella cheese, cubed or grated
6 tablespoons oil
Salt
500 g (1lb and 1 1/2oz) chilli-flavored short pasta

Time:
preparation: 15 minutes
cooking: 5-15 minutes (it depends on the type of pasta)
active time: 20 minutes
Difficulty:
easy recipe
Nutrition Facts (amount per serving):
Calories: 287 (kCal) 15 % GDA (*) - 1202 (kJ)
Protein: 12.1 (g) 25 % GDA
Total fat: 12.2 (g) 18 % GDA
Total carbohydrate: 34.3 (g) 13 % GDA
Sugars: 3.1 (g) 4 % GDA

Mediterranean pasta salad recipe

Prepare the sauce. Prepare the sauce at least 1 hour before cooking the pasta.
Put the tomatoes in a large bowl, crush them with a fork.
Now add all the ingredients except mozzarella cheese. Stir gently, season to taste with salt and chill for at least 1 hour, covered.

Cook the pasta and combine with the sauce. Cook the pasta "al dente" following our instructions or the instructions on the package. Drain it in the colander and run under cold water in order to stop its cooking.
Transfer the pasta to the bowl. Stir gently and chill, covered, at least 2 hours before serving but bring back to room temperature to serve.
Add the mozzarella cheese, cubed, just before serving. When you cube the mozzarella cheese cut some thin slices and put apart for garnishing the top as you can see in the photo.

Note

- Obviously if you use fresh tomatoes you have the best result.
- You can prepare this pasta salad some hours in advance, in the morning for the evening for example.
- This pasta salad, Mediterranean-style can be eaten often and so you can choose it for your weekly summer menu. But it can be a course in a celebration menu or in a dinner menu in the garden. Read more here ...
- What are the most important rules to make a tasty pasta salad? Read more ...

Healthy eating

- Pasta salad is a dish rich in ingredients and so it is necessary to calculate the right amount of everything we use not to exceed calories, fat and sugars. In this case the nutrition facts are right for we created it for a complete menu with many other courses.
- Daily menu. If you like it and want to prepare with the same nutrtion facts use these doses per head: 50 g (1 3/4oz) pasta, about 60 g (2 1/4oz) mozzarella cheese, a very big ripe tomato, an anchovy fillet, 1/2 tablespoon olive oil and aromatic herbs. To complete your menu choose raw or boiled vegetables seasoned with a tablespoon of olive oil and fresh fruit. Don't choose fish or meat as second course for mozzarella is rich in protein.
We remember pasta should be eaten preferably at lunch and the calories eaten at lunch should be 500 - 700 (30 - 35% of energy needs for an adult if his daily needs are about 2000 calories and he correctly divides his calories into 5 micro-meals).
- Special occasion menu. Don't worry about fat, calories, sugars ... it happens rarely, doesn't it?
- If you want to drink a glass of wine remember you have to add 80-85 kCal per 100 ml.
- If you want to know more about Italian pasta and its nutrition value read this page.
- We remember you our original home recipes can be made without salt; there is a combination of flavours that substitutes salt. Other no salt recipes ...

What's the right wine ?

Our suggestion: Corvo rosa (rosé wine from Sicily- Italy) or another rosé Italian wine.