Best Ever Pasta Salad
A delicious and perfectly seasoned pasta salad that you will love.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 1 pound penne pasta
- 4 cloves of garlic sliced paper thin
- 1 large bunch of fresh basil sliced thin about 1/4 cup sliced thin
- 1 large ball of fresh mozzarella about 8 ounces you can also use small mozzarella balls (called bocconcini) and dice them up.
- 4 medium ripe tomatoes diced I like to use roma tomatoes
- 2 tbsp Balsamic vinegar plus more to taste
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 good pinches of cayenne pepper more if you like the heat
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
- Grab your tomatoes and with a sharp knife cut a little x shape on the bottom.
- Add your tomatoes to the boiling water for 1 minute then remove and run under cold water.
- At the spot where you cut the x in your tomatoes, grab the skin and peel it off the tomato and set aside to cool.
- Boil your pasta according to instructions on box for al dente.
- While the pasta is cooking, slice your garlic as thin as possible and place in a large bowl.
- Next dice up your tomatoes and add them to the bowl.
- Add the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, cayenne pepper, a pinch of salt and pepper and basil to the bowl then mix and let it sit to let the flavors come together.
- Cut up your fresh mozzarella into small 1/2 inch cubes and put aside.
- When your pasta is cooked, add it to your bowl with the marinade and toss well.
- Taste for seasoning such as salt, more balsamic etc. based on your taste. I almost always add a pinch or dash of something at this stage since I like a lot of cayenne pepper and lots of balsamic.
- Once it is perfectly seasoned to your taste, add your fresh mozzarella cubes and toss again.
- Plate and serve!
Notes
(adapted from Williams-Sonoma)