Mediterranean Pasta Salad

It's been hotter than the dickens lately.  Ok, not really.  But when you live in a condo w/ no central air, anything over 75 degrees makes me a bit anxious.  We have a portable a/c in Kuen's room and we crank it down to 65 on "hot" days so when I get home, I open/shut the door as quickly as possible so I can keep as much cool air in this condo as I can.  

Ahhh, come to mama.

When I see Gabe lollygagging instead of slamming the door shut as quickly as possible, I always yell "close the door!" then he stops what he's doing (with the door OPEN) and looks as me with a quizzical , "huh?" every. damn. time.  Same thing happens when he does this w/ the fridge or freezer door.  Anger stroke.

I've gotten more used to it but I can't bear to turn the stove on for long periods of time and you can forget any kind of baking until September at the earliest.  Which is silly, considering how cookie season is in the summer.  Ok, nevermind.  Cookies are prettymuch always in season.

If you have some leftover pasta in your fridge, 'cooking' this pasta salad adds approximately ZERO degrees to your (already hot) kitchen.  I've also just done the cooking parts in the morning when things haven't gotten too hot yet and then I've prepped some things to make dinner come together even faster so I can get done w/ dinner and park myself in front of a fan as quickly as possible.

I was in such a hurry to shovel this in my mouth I took a blurry picture. Sue me.

Mediterranean Pasta Salad

makes 6 servings

2 c. grape tomatoes, halved
1 English (or hot house) cucumber, diced
1 red pepper, julienned 
1 c. kalamata olives, roughly chopped
6 oz. dry salami, thinly sliced
4 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
8 oz. short cut pasta (1/2 lb)
1 green onion, sliced thinly (optional)

Greek Dressing

1/3 red wine vinegar
2/3 cup of extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic finely minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons sugar (updated)
1 teaspoon dried basil
2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons of salt
1/2 teaspoon of onion powder

Cook pasta according to package instructions.  While the pasta cooks, cut and prepare tomatoes, cucumber, pepper, olives and salami and toss together in a large bowl.  Prepare dressing.  After draining the pasta, allow it to cool slightly before adding to the vegetables.  Dress the salad (I use about 1/3 to 1/2 a cup) stir to combine.  Mix in feta, salami and fold.  Garnish with green onions.  Taste and adjust seasoning or add more dressing.

This pasta salad can be made ahead of time and gets better as the flavors blend.  

The dressing is seriously good.  This recipe make more then you need so I love to use the dressing as a marinade or to pour over sliced tomatoes.