Muffaletta Pasta Salad
Muffaletta Pasta Salad has all the flavors of a delicious muffelatta sandwich, but in a an delicious, picnic worthy and pot luck necessary pasta salad form.
I poured over what to call this Muffuletta Pasta Salad. I joked with S that we were having antipasto pasta salad. “You can’t have ANTIpasto pasta salad. The ANTIPASTO means there’s NO pasta.” It was funny. I just had that stuck in my head; antipasto pasta salad. It just has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?
Confession time.
I was unsuccessful at finding the turkey pepperoni minis that I know Hormel makes. I honestly meant for those to go in the salad. They’re spicy and tasty and lower in fat than regular pepperoni. Granted, the salami that I put in there wasn’t very low fat, but I thought they’d be a nice balance between the two. Plus, I didn’t load up on the salami. What did I use in its place? Please. Don’t judge. Jack Link’s TURKEY Snack Sticks. I said, “Don’t judge” didn’t I?
They weren’t bad, but not what I meant to put in here. Please. Follow the recipe and find the turkey pepperoni minis, or use regular pepperoni minis if you’re not following a low fat diet.
As I was sitting here trying to figure out what to call it, I remember something WAY BACK in the deep dark recesses of my craptastic memory; there’s a sandwich like this isn’t there? An Italian meats sandwich that’s all mashed together and layered? Yeah? What in the world is that called?? So, off to Pinterest I go and search for sandwiches.
Now, it might be a bit of a stretch to call this a Muffuletta Pasta Salad, but it has almost all of the ingredients of a traditional Muffuletta sandwich.
- olive salad, in this case the ingredients for the olive salad are present
- salami
- ham
- cheese, in this case two types: Asiago and mozzarella
I mean, how can I NOT call this a Muffuletta Pasta Salad? All the ingredients are there! Right? No? Oh well. That’s what I’m calling it and you can’t change my mind! So there!
A word about hearts of palm. If you haven’t tasted this delicacy, why not? They are delicious! They’re an easy addition to any salad to elevate it just a touch. I treat them like marinated artichoke hearts. I don’t eat them often and usually try to make a dish where they won’t get lost in the other ingredients. The jar I opened had one that was too fibrous to eat, but that’s a rarity. If it’s not fork tender, then don’t try to eat it.
Okay. PSA for the day is done. Now, let’s get back to this Muffuletta Pasta Salad!
Muffaletta Pasta Salad
Muffaletta Pasta Salad has all the flavors of a delicious muffelatta sandwich, but in a an delicious, picnic worthy and pot luck necessary pasta salad form.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces tortellini, cooked and chilled overnight
- 1 1/2 cups salami, diced
- 1 1/2 cups turkey pepperoni, diced
- 1 cup diced ham
- 10 ounces hearts of palm, sliced
- 1 cup Asiago cheese, diced
- 1 cup fresh mozzarella pearls
- 1 cup giardinera, drained
- 1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted
- 10 ounces marinated artichoke hearts, undrained
- 1 packet Good Seasons Italian salad dressing packet
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 4 cups romaine lettuce, chopped
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions omitting additional salt and fat. Drain and refrigerate 3 or overnight.
- Place the 7 ingredients in a large mixing bowl and toss to combine.
- Drain the artichoke hearts reserving the marinade. Add to the pasta mixture.
- Pour the vinegar and oil in a salad dressing cruet or similar style container. Add the Italian salad dressing packet and shake to combine. Pour 1/2 cup of the reserved artichoke hearts marinade into the bottle and shake again.
- Divide the lettuce evenly between 4 plates. Top with 2 cups of pasta mixture and drizzle with dressing.
The whole antipasto pasta salad conversation cracked me up. As do the Jack Links commercials, by the way.
Of course I love this because I love anything remotely muffelata.
Thanks for linking, Christie.
Christie, this looks delicious! A muffelata salad is pure genius! I'm sooo glad you shared this with us at Treasure Box Tuesday- PINNED! 😀
Love this pasta salad, definitely going to give it a try! Your "confession" had me laughing, great post. 🙂 Thank you for sharing at #GetHimFed, this recipe is being featured today. Hope you have a great weekend!!
Thanks, Jess! Glad I could get a laugh out of you! It's my main purpose in life; make people laugh at me. 🙂 <3
It sounds delightful. And it's great for summer.
Thank you ,Heidi! I love pasta salads for summer. It's too hot to cook, sometimes, and I just want to toss something together quick. This is perfect for those days!
some recipes don;t work the way we expected…but that is the fun of trying again. This looks so darn good…must try this.
Oh Karen, if you only knew! I've tried the same one three times already. Just can't quite get it right… One of these days.
Oh yum. I love any and all pasta salads. If I'm desperate, I've been known to just throw pasta, Italian dressing and parm together and call it a pasta salad!
Andrea, we don't do a lot of pasta salads. I'm not strong on dressings and just don't really like the bottles ones all THAT much. I'm making another one this weekend. Tuna pasta salad in honor of my fave lunch buffet.
I found your post on Get Him Fed & I’d love it if you would share your recipe again on this week’s The Yuck Stops Here link party that ends Sunday evening at 8pm ET! You can find us at http://mommasangelbaby.com/the-yuck-stops-here-6/. Hope to see you there! HUGS
I've seen The Yuck Stops Here, but haven't linked up before. I can't wait to head over and see what it's all about.
I was expecting Ho Hum—I am not big into pasta salad. They seem to all taste alike. I know I am going to
get flak for that. Laughing. BUT I was very very surprised on your salad and even tagged it in my little system so I would lose sight of it. Using Tortellini was a great idea as the base. Then a myriad of other interesting additions. This pasta salad is different!
Carol, I'm with ya! I'm not a huge fan of pasta salad, either. But this one is AWESOME!!