Summer Pasta Salad with Olives, Greek Kasseri Cheese & Tomatoes

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Summer pasta ends up on my lunch and dinner table a lot when the weather gets warm. It's easy, fast and healthy. Look for the olives, herbs and olive oil to make this even tastier and healthier by going to my online store here.

Course dinner, Lunch, pasta, salad

Cuisine Greek, Greek cuisine, Mediterranean diet

Keyword Diane Kochilas, Greek cheese, Greek recipes, kalamata olives, pasta salad, sundried tomatoes

PREP TIME 10 minutes

COOK TIME 15 minutes

Ingredients

1 pound/450 g rigatoni or fusilli
Greek sea salt
8 tablespoons/120 ml extra virgin Greek olive oil
1 large onion finely chopped
2 garlic cloves minced
1 ½ cups trimmed diced Greek or other salami,
2 cups kasseri aged kasseri, or manouri cheese, cut into ½-inch/1 ½-cm cubes
2 tablespoons Greek capers drained
3 tablespoons pitted chopped green or black Greek olives or mixed olives
8 fresh cherry or sun-dried tomatoes drained and coarsely chopped
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons dried Greek oregano

Instructions

Cook the pasta in salted water according to package directions. Drain. Toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil.
In a medium skillet over medium heat, warm 2 tablespoons of olive oil and sauté the onion and garlic until soft, about 7 minutes.
Have all the remaining ingredients ready. In a large mixing bowl, combine the pasta with the sautéed onion and garlic, the diced salami, cheese, capers, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, pepper and oregano. Add remaining olive oil and toss. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.

Notes

Here's a last-minute pasta salad with a Greek touch. If you can't find Kasseri or Manouri cheeses, try any mild sheep's milk cheese in place of the Kasseri, or a ricotta salata in place of the Manouri.