Antipasto tortellini salad
Cheese tortellini tossed with salami, artichokes, roasted peppers, olives and mozzarella in a red wine vinaigrette, a pasta salad that tastes better on day two.
- 25 min total
- 15 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 4
- About $3.84 a serving
- 760 calories
- Good the next day
Dolly says: It’s ready in 25 minutes, start to finish.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 lb 4 oz refrigerated cheese tortellini
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 clove garlic, grated
- 3 oz sliced genoa salami, cut into strips
- 1 can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
- ½ cup roasted red peppers, chopped
- ⅓ cup Kalamata olives, halved
- 4 oz fresh mozzarella, cubed
- ¼ cup fresh basil, torn (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp salt
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
Each serving has about 760 calories, 32 g protein, 68 g carbs and 39 g fat, and costs about $3.84 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No Kalamata olives? Black olives work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Bring a large pot of water over high heat and add the salt.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Add the tortellini and cook as the package says, usually 3 to 4 minutes, until they float and are tender.
High heatTimer: 3 min 30 sec
and under cold water until cool, then shake off the water.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Dolly’s tip: Rinsing is right for pasta salad. It stops the cooking so the tortellini stay plump, not soft.Shake the oil, vinegar, mustard, Italian seasoning and garlic in a jar until blended.
Cut the salami into strips, quarter the artichokes, the peppers, the olives and the mozzarella.
Chop. Chopping means cutting food into bite-size pieces that don’t need to be neat. Keep them roughly the same size so everything cooks evenly.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are about half an inch and roughly alike, even if none of them are pretty.
Halve. Halving means cutting something into two equal pieces. Even halves cook at the same speed, so one doesn’t dry out while the other finishes.
How you’ll know: The two pieces look like mirror images of each other.
Cube. Cubing means cutting food into chunky, even squares, usually three quarters of an inch to an inch. Same-size cubes cook at the same speed and brown on every side.
How you’ll know: Your pieces look like a handful of sugar cubes, a little bigger than diced, all close to the same size.
Food safety: If you’re pregnant, heat deli meat, hot dogs, salami, pepperoni and smoked salmon until steaming hot, 165°F, just before eating, or leave them out. Eaten cold, they carry a small risk of listeria.
the tortellini with everything else and the dressing, tear in the basil, and divide among 4 containers.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Dolly’s tip: It keeps 4 days in the fridge. Give it a stir before you eat, because the dressing settles.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop plans your lunches along with the week’s dinners, puts what you need on the same grocery list, and walks you through each step.
