Mike's Pasta Salad

[brian]

Why Mike's? Well, I made this for my buddy Mike's Jack & Jill I'm going to tonight (for those of you who don't know, a Jack and Jill is a co-ed "stag" for a wedding... no gift opening like the girls do, and no strippers like the guys do )


I'll have a full write-up on how to make it later...

in the meantime, Drool over this :)

[brian]

Ok, it's been too long, so here's the long awaited write-up.

there's a TON of ingredients in this. I spent about $80 at the grocery store for everything that i needed.


4 12oz boxes of tri-color rotini
1 red pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 box of fresh mushrooms
2 cups of Fresh mozzarella balls
3/4 cup Greek olives (pitted)
2 bottles Italian Zesty w/ ramano dressing
pepperoncini peppers
pepperoni
1 cup feta cheese
1/2 jar horseradish mustard
2 jars artichoke hearts
4 cups light mayo
3/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes
handful of cherry tomatoes
red wine vinegar

basil
parsely
crushed red pepper
oregeno
black pepper
kosher salt
EVOO

[brian]

If there's one thing I hate, its cruchy veggies in a pasta salad. To me, it should be smooth and easy to eat. This is why, I sautee my veggies before I put them in the salad.

So, get your sautee pan on, and get a little bit of EVOO in there... add in the 2 peppers with a little bit of black pepper and a pinch of kosher salt.


In the mean time, get your pasta going, drain, and RINSE with COLD water to stop it from cooking.

[brian]

slice up your mushrooms while the peppers are cooking... and add them in after about 5 min of the peppers cooking. the mushrooms will cook faster, so thats why you add them later.

[brian]

While that mixture is cooking, slice up your sundried tomatoes... And then add them in.

[brian]

mix it all around and cook through.

when it looks like this, take it off the heat. its done.

[brian]

Now, get your olives and cheeses prepared...

make sure you use a paper towel to absorb the water these tend to have on them.

[brian]

put the cheese aside, and quarter the cherry tomatoes.

I re-used my pasta pot, because I was out of big pans. :D if you have a large mixing bowl, use that instead.

[brian]

add in the sliced pepperoni, the olives, cheese, and the 2 jars of DRAINED artichoke hearts.

[brian]

add in the feta too :)