Pasta salad is the kind of dish where you can throw in everything but the kitchen sink. We did end up with a delicious salad, but made one mistake, too much pasta! We were trying to empty the cupboard of half-used bags of pasta, but we went a little overboard. We figure we needed half the pasta and twice the dressing. Overall though the flavours were a great combination and I will definitely try the recipe a second time.

Ingredients:

1 package (500g) small bowtie pasta (not the three half-packages we used!)
2 green onions, both light and dark sections, sliced
1 large tomato, diced
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
3 hard boiled eggs (8 minutes in boiling water will do it), diced
1/2 cup sliced green olives, roughly chopped
2 tbsp capers, roughly chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt and pepper to taste

Boil the pasta in salted water as per package instructions. Meanwhile, chop or dice all ingredients and toss in a big bowl with olive oil and lemon juice. Add drained pasta and toss to coat. Add salt and pepper to taste and additional olive oil if pasta is too sticky. Keep covered (that keeps it moist) and let cool to room temperature before serving.

Feel free to add any ingredients you love. I think sundried tomato, a crumbly cheese or other fresh herbs would all be delicious additions. I’m having it for lunch the day after with some tuna added to make it a full meal. The key here is to experiment until you find a recipe you love, and I promise it will become a signature dish.