I made this to accompany burgers at our barbecue and a lot of people had seconds. The salad didn't get to chill longer then two hours before we served it and I felt like it really needed to sit longer. I had some the next day for lunch and it tasted much better. Next time I make this I will make it the night before so that the flavors have time to meld together. I substitued tri-colored spiral pasta because I think it adds to the presentation of the salad. I also added some plum tomatoes sliced in half and I added a small sweet yellow pepper diced. Do not skimp on the spinach in this recipe. It adds a wonderful flavor and color to the pasta salad. Very tasty recipe!
Super! Delicious! If you have a small to medium red onion slice the whole thing...if it is a HUGE red onion do half ...besides that stick with the directions and you will have a perfect filling salad with just the right amount of seasonings. I used Ken's Italian Dressing with Parmesan and it added greatly ....I have already been asked to pass the recipe along...thanks for the contribution!
I brought this to a potluck for my running club and watched it disappear. I used whole wheat corkscrew pasta, however, and it added a nice texture. Use the biggest bowl you have to mix--until the spinach breaks down in the dressing the volume is enormous.
This was delicious, though a bit bland until I added a few extras. We use ricotta salata instead of Feta, sweet vidalia onion instaed of red onion (didn't have a red onion on hand), added a bit more salt and garlic powder and we made our own dressing from the juice of an additional lemon and some good olive oil. I'm sure if I had used the Feta, we would not have needed the salt but my daughter is anti-feta cheese! Thanks for submitting! Oh, the next day I added some grilled chicken breast to the leftovers and had lunch.
8/12/10 update: It came out even better the second time! Needed it for a pool party. Cooked the pasta early in the day, mixed in 1/2 C of the italian dressing (used bottled this time), the red onion, grated the lemon & added it along with the lemon juice. The grated lemon added SO much flavor! Then I added the olives, s/p and garlic powder. Let it rest in the fridge all day. I also shredded the ricotta salata and washed and dried the baby spinach in tha early moring & put in the fridge. Near dinner time I only added another 1/4 C of dressing, chopped the fresh spinach & added that & the shredded cheese, tossed it well and was done. It got rave reviews from EVERONE as well as many requests for the recipe!
I loved this salad! very easy to make. i followed it exactly except i followed the advice to cut down the onion amt. my husband felt that the spinach was a little soggy so next time i will add it towards the end. but this was delicious!
Perfect pasta salad. A tip on the onions: After chopping, put in a sieve or colander and run cold water over them for 30 seconds, as that will take the "bite" out of them and won't be as overpowering the next day. Thanks Kim for the great recipe.
I mixed the pasta salad together and put it in the fridge to wait a few hours before adding the spinach as another reviewer recommended. But my family started helping themselves before the spinach ever got added. They loved it. I had used Greek salad dressing instead of italian and added some chopped up sliced pepperoni. It was so yummy I may just keep this as my Greek Pasta Salad recipe and just forget about the spinach ingredient. Thanks.
This was a great, fresh salad. I used only about 3/4 of the recommended dressing, and don't put it on too far in advanced because the spinach wilts. Also I added four chopped up tomatoes, which added extra color and flavor. Yum!
THIS WAS DELICIOUS!!! It was a hit at brunch.I got a lot of great feedback. I made a few changes. I used about half of a small red onion(less is better). I love feta cheese so I used an 8 oz container and I used 3/4c.of the italian dressing.
Well frankly I was disappointed with this and I m not quite sure why. I did add some chopped tomato for a little more color. I thought the spinach would wilt more than it did so if I make this again I ll be sure to chop my spinach a little smaller. Hubs is great about eating leftovers but never went back and ate any more of this. Sorry.
