Chopped Salad Pasta
This is perfect for a picnic, quick lunch or easy dinner. And you don’t have to turn the oven! Every time you take a bite of this pasta salad, you’ll get all the big, bold flavors of an antipasto platter—salami, chickpeas, fontina, pepperoncini—in one mouthful. Many of the ingredients are probably in your pantry already, but the recipe is very adaptable. If you don’t have chickpeas, substitute butter beans; no salami, try oil-marinated tuna; or swap out the type of cheese. You get the gist.
Total Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons finely diced red onion
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 10 ounces dried ditalini or other small pasta, like macaroni or small conchiglie
- A splash of extra-virgin olive oil, plus ½ cup
- Two (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 4 ounces salami, cut into matchsticks
- ⅔ cup coarsely chopped pepperoncini
- 6 ounces fontina, cut into ¼-inch cubes
- 2 cups coarsely chopped radicchio or arugula
- ½ cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon whole-grain mustard
- 8 sprigs thyme, stemmed
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine onions, vinegar and lemon juice, and let marinate while you cook pasta.
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente, according to package instructions. Drain pasta in a colander, place in a large bowl and add a splash of olive oil to stop it from sticking together.
- Add chickpeas, salami, pepperoncini, fontina, radicchio and parsley to pasta, and toss to combine.
- Whisk ½ cup olive oil, honey, mustard, thyme and salt into onion-vinegar mixture and season with pepper. Pour over pasta and toss to combine.
- Serve pasta on a platter and season with some cranks of pepper.