Italian Pasta Salad

Let's make one of my summer standbys, which is my Italian pasta salad. I love this recipe. If you love a classic Italian like antipasto tray or just those classic flavors, you're gonna flip over this. Now, I'm just gonna start off by saying that I don't have specific measurements for everything. The only thing I will tell you is to use what your heart desires and I will give you the measurements for the dressing because it does matter. But really, this is a great opportunity for you to clean out your fridge. So what do I always have on hand? I've always got short provolone, some kind of soppressata, some salami. Sometimes I do some spicy salami, prosciutto, things like that. So I will literally just take whatever's left in my fridge and in my dairy drawer for the week, chop it all up and add it to some pasta salad. It is sensational. I also thinly slice a shallot because I always like a little bit of onion action in my pasta salad, but you can leave it out. Some colorful cherry tomatoes and I have some leftover mozzarella balls that I cut into little pieces because I want everything to be about the same size. And these are really like the must-haves. Now for eight ounces of cooked pasta, you're gonna do a quarter cup of red wine vinegar and a half a cup of olive oil, extra virgin olive oil. That's a ratio that I like because I don't like a dry pasta salad. You always want to err on the side of too much dressing because as it sits, the pasta will absorb all of that dressing. Then I do a grated clove of garlic, lots of Parmigiano-Reggiano, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and then I also like to do a little Calabrian chili paste, although you can skip it and just go ahead and use a little pinch of hot pepper flakes. Once the dressing is ready, add your pasta. I'm using these tricolored, what are these called? Rotini? There you go. Remember, it's eight ounces and then I cook them to al dente in nice salted water, drain them, shock them in cold water and they were ready to absorb all of that wonderful flavor. Toss everything together. I'm just doing it in a cute little pattern to show you. I like to add a little pepperoncino, a little sweet peppers. You can also do like roasted peppers, a mix of olives, whatever you have. Lots of herbs. I did a mix of basil and parsley and then gave everything a really good toss. Now it's best to make your pasta salad a few hours before you serve it, but make sure you let it sit at room temperature for like 20 minutes before you actually go to serve it because it takes the chill off and it makes everything taste so much better. Look at how gorgeous that is. I also like to add a little extra handful of parm right as I go to serve it and it is sensational. It's delicious. Summertime is around the corner. Memorial Day is around the corner. You must make it. You will love it and I will see you in the next one. Bye-bye.