Tortellini Pasta Salad
This easy pasta salad utilizes tortellini pasta and fresh veggies and is tossed in a delicious ground mustard and garlic vinaigrette.
Ingredients
Salad
- 2 12- oz boxes dry mixed cheese or spinach-cheese tortellini*
- 1/2-1 medium red onion thinly sliced
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes halved
- 1 english cucumber seeded and sliced
- Optional: 1 cup whole large pitted black olives, halved
- Ground Mustard and Garlic Vinaigrette below
- *Note: if using pre-cooked fresh or frozen tortellini, you'll want two 20-ish oz packages. This salad is very flexible and you can feel free to adjust and add more veggies to your liking, if you desire.
Dressing
- 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice1/4 cup white wine vinegar or rice vinegar; try to avoid plain white vinegar because it’s too strong here2 green onions firm parts only, trimmed of the white “furry” ends4-5 cloves of garlic1/2 teaspoon kosher salt1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper1 teaspoon sugar or honey2 tablespoons coarse grain mustard (or Dijon, but Dijon has a very distinct, mustard-y aftertaste that some of my tasters weren’t crazy about)1 cup canola oil
Instructions
- Prepare the dressing first. In the jar of your blender, combine all the ingredients except for the oil. Blend on high. While the blender is running, slowly add the oil in a steady stream. Refrigerate.
- Cook the tortellini according to package directions. Meanwhile, combine the onions, tomatoes, cucumber, and olives, if using, in a large salad bowl.
- When the pasta is done cooking, drain and rinse in cold water. When the pasta has cooled, toss it with the combined ingredients and then add the salad dressing a little at a time, and toss until combined. I generally use the whole batch of dressing, but you can start with some and go from there.
- If possible, refrigerate for at least an hour before serving. Serves about 8.
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