This Italian pasta salad is great to make for lunches or as a dinner on a summer night.
This is my family's favorite summer salad! They always want me to double the recipe so there will be lots of leftovers. I use one each, green and red or yellow bell pepper and a wedge of fresh parmesan cheese, grated for each batch. I've tried it with a few salad dressings and the absolute best is Bernstein's Restaurant Style Italian. I'm serious when I say that no other salad dressing makes it taste as good. I've even tried the same brand but creamy italian and it just isn't the same. The trick to eliminating the dryness is to save about an inch or two of the bottled dressing and put it in just before serving. The pasta initially absorbs the dressing and it can get a little dry especially if made several hours in advance or the day before. That last bit of dressing added at the end is the perfect solution to that problem. Just made it for a Mothers Day barbeque and picnic and didn't get to bring any home, again! which is why I hid a bowl of it in the back frig for later.
Read MoreThe salad dressing taste was a bit strong. I will make again using olive oil and herbs instead of dressing.
Read MoreThis is my family's favorite summer salad! They always want me to double the recipe so there will be lots of leftovers. I use one each, green and red or yellow bell pepper and a wedge of fresh parmesan cheese, grated for each batch. I've tried it with a few salad dressings and the absolute best is Bernstein's Restaurant Style Italian. I'm serious when I say that no other salad dressing makes it taste as good. I've even tried the same brand but creamy italian and it just isn't the same. The trick to eliminating the dryness is to save about an inch or two of the bottled dressing and put it in just before serving. The pasta initially absorbs the dressing and it can get a little dry especially if made several hours in advance or the day before. That last bit of dressing added at the end is the perfect solution to that problem. Just made it for a Mothers Day barbeque and picnic and didn't get to bring any home, again! which is why I hid a bowl of it in the back frig for later.
I don't use "creamy salad dressing" so I just used a mix of mayonnaise and sour cream. To make it a little more hearty, I threw in some halved cherry tomatoes and one large cucumber that I cut into fourths. This was yummy. This serves four, not six. There was enough for my boys and I for dinner with a portion leftover for lunch tomorrow.
This had a good flavor, but we thought it needed a bit more crunch. Next time we're going to add a bit of chopped celery for added texture.
you can also turn the salami into crunchy little pieces, very similar to bacon bits. place a single layer of salami slices onto a microwave safe dish, + nuke'em till theyre crisp. keep an eye on them tho, every microwave is different. once the slices have gotten that crispy texture, place them on a paper towel or something to absorb the oils. simply crumble over your pasta. sometimes i find scissors make crumbling a bit easier. + if you want a spicey kick, try HOT GENOA SALAMI. most grocery store deli's carry this variety.
This was a nice and cool salad to have on a hot summer day. It tasted great and served as a meal with just bread. I will be making this again. If my kids were a little older I think they would love it too.
I made this recipe for lunch for my Hubby (I don't eat red meat) and he loved it! I used a spicy salami that was peppered on the outside and he was in heaven!
Nice change from the standard summer salads. Has a nice "bite" due to the garlic in the dressing and in the salami. Really popular with the guys. I would cut the cheese down to 1/2 a cup, add croutons and possibly some diced celery. This salad is best for in home parties, as it should be kept chilled due to the salami and caesar dressing.
The salad dressing taste was a bit strong. I will make again using olive oil and herbs instead of dressing.
Great recipe! I added celery, grape tomatoes and cubes of mont jack cheese (same size as salami) and used shell macaroni. I made my own italian dressing and for the creamy salad dressing I just used a little bit of mayo to bind everything together- big hit!
My husband really enjoyed this. I added quartered grape tomatoes and fresh parsley, which added a nice fresh flavor. I assumed the 'creamy salad dressing' meant Miracle Whip, which we are not fans of, so I used light Hellman's mayo instead. Very good. Thanks! :)
we really liked this pasta salad. It did add a TBLS of sugar only to cut back on the acidity of the Italian dressing - which can give heartburn. An easy recipe to tweak (variations of ham, pepperoni or other veggies can be used with success). Thanks Deanna. Keeping this in my recipe book.
I made this with our favorite Genoa salami, and I used green and red bell peppers. I stirred in a little lite mayonnaise the next day as it had got a touch dry. Good stuff. Thanks!
It was good. I did take one other reviewers advice and took extra dressing to add just before serving so it wouldn't be dry. I'm glad I did b/c it was a bit dry, it was gobbled up though at the carry-in I took it to!
I love this and so does everyone else. Advice....this soaks up a lot of the dressing so I buy an extra FAT FREE italian dressing and add to it if it looks dry. Fantastic recipe! Love adding bell pepper to mine too, green, red, yellow, orange, etc....adds even more color and tastes great!
Would have rated this a 5, but putting it at a 4 because it is a very expensive salad to make. Salami $7 a roll, 1 red pepper $3, freshly grated parmesan, $1.50. Total it ended up costing at least $15-$17 just for one salad!! I did use real mayo, not salad dressing because that's what we like. It tasted very good, but at the price of making it, probably won't be making again for a while.
I loved this pasta salad. I used a creamy ceaser salad dressing for the creamy dressing. I added some chopped green pepper and used yellow onion. I will make this again!! Thanks for the great recipe.
Took this to a luncheon at work and it was inhaled! took advice from Deeevo and nuked the salami(30-45 secs in micro when sliced in strips)fantastic! several people wanted recipe,thanks so much!!!
This is a great recipe! I usually use tortollinis in it and it is soo good!! Im glad everyone loves it as much as I do or I might end up with too many leftovers, which I would completely devour. I usually add in 2 inch pieces of asaparagus as well.. Just put it into the boiling water for a minute or two to, blanche, is it? Same with the salami and the peppers. I read that on a similar recipe or under someones reviews.. I dont remember exactly, but it seems to work well. I may also put fresh spinach in with it as well. Not immediately with all the ingredients, but after some of the dressing has already soaked up so the spinach doesnt get soggy. Also may add cherry tomatoes, pieces of celery, & maybe some chunks of cucumber and feta cheese. Super amazing recipe for potlucks, lunches or dinners.. I'm just trying to decide if it's an appropriate salad in the winter- it seems more for summer doesnt it? It's so good, I dont think it really matters. Only drawback is my version gets a little pricey with all the fresh veggies and torts.
We loved this salad--the creamy dressing with parmesan cheese was a nice change from traditional Italian pasta salads I usually make. DH likes his pasta salad meaty, so this was perfect for him. I'll definitely make this again.
Simple, easy and delicious! I added halved cherry tomatoes and asparagus. My wifes office loved it!
we really liked this pasta salad. It did add a TBLS of sugar only to cut back on the acidity of the Italian dressing - which can give heartburn. An easy recipe to tweak (variations of ham, pepperoni or other veggies can be used with success). Thanks Deanna. Keeping this in my recipe book.
We love this recipe. However, I don't like bell peppers so I use zucchini cut in small pieces. Also, once I didn't have pasta but used 9 oz pkg of cheese filled tortellini. Excellent!
It was good, but a bit "heavy" for my taste in pasta salads. What I like about pasta salads is that they're light, this one, not so much. I think I'd cut back on the dressings and use less of the salami and cut it smaller.
I switched this up a little bit and added Mozzarella pearls, celery & fresh basil in place of the peppers & parmesan cheese.
