Italian Deli Pasta Salad with Homemade Dressing
Tender rotini loaded with Genoa salami, fresh mozzarella, olives, pepperoncini, bell pepper, sun-dried tomatoes, and Parmesan, tossed in a sharp homemade Italian dressing.
Ingredients
Pasta Salad
- 2000 g water
- 45 g salt, (for pasta water)
- 235 g dried rotini
- 25 g white vinegar
- 2 tsp olive oil, or neutral oil
- 100 g pitted kalamata olives, chopped
- 60-75 g red bell pepper, small diced
- 50-75 g pepperoncini, diced
- 110 g Genoa salami, 1" square dice
- 150 g Italian dressing, plus additional as needed, recipe below
- 100-150 g fresh mozzarella
- 100 g oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, 1/2" chop
- 75 g aged parmesan, coarsely ground
Italian Dressing
- 20 g red onion, chopped and rinsed
- 5 g garlic
- 15 g red bell pepper
- 25 g grainy mustard
- 25 g red wine vinegar
- 45 g white distilled vinegar
- ¼ tsp dried oregano
- ¼ tsp dried basil
- ¼ tsp red pepper flake
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- 15 g granulated sugar
- 5 g salt
Instructions
- Bring water to a boil in a medium-large saucepan while you make the dressing and prep the mix-ins.
- To make the dressing, add red wine vinegar, white distilled vinegar, rinsed chopped red onion, garlic clove, chopped red bell pepper, grainy mustard, sugar, salt, and oregano, basil, black pepper, and chile flake to a tall, narrow container. Blend with an immersion blender until completely broken down.
- With the immersion blender running, slowly stream in neutral oil, moving the blender up and down as the dressing thickens. Blend until opaque and about the consistency of thin ranch.
- To prep the mix-ins, dice mozzarella into ¼ cubes, cut olives into 3 pieces, chop pepperoncini, small dice bell pepper, chop salami into 1" squares, and chop sun-dried tomatoes into roughly ½" pieces.
- Add 45g salt to the boiling water. Add rotini, stir and boil for 11 to 12 minutes, or about 20% longer than the box instructions, until fully tender with no chalky center.
- Drain the pasta without rinsing. While still hot, toss with 25g white distilled vinegar and about 2 tsp olive oil. Toss gently and let cool, about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Add the mix-ins, about 150g of the dressing, and grated Parmesan to the cooled pasta. Fold together gently so you do not break up the tender pasta.
- Serve immediately topped with a drizzle of additional dressing and grated parm.
If you don't have an immersion blender, you can use a regular blender, but you will need to double the batch to have enough to spin. You can also make this by hand by chopping ingredients as finely as possible, adding vinegars, and whisking in the oil.
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