Greek pasta salad

Last week it was warm and humid.  This week summer turned cold and wet.  We have had so much rain over the last few days.  And I have slept so much due to ill health.  On Monday I slept 9 hours during the day and on Tuesday evening I fell asleep on the couch at 6.30pm.  Today I am feeling a bit better but could have done without the cat waking me at the ungodly hour of 5.30am.

So this week there has been very little cooking.  Instead of telling you the paltry offerings in the kitchen, I will hark back to my birthday a while back when I had so much good food that I made this Greek pasta salad out of the leftovers. 

I have been feeling more inspired in my cooking since I started a spreadsheet of recipes I wanted to cook (to replace my much mourned delicious bookmarks list that was great until the online software was shut down).  So this salad came from my spreadsheet.  It was inspired by leftovers olives, vegan feta and vegies from a platter.  Actually I was surprised to see how few pasta salad recipes I have on this blog!

I had wished that I had more of the feta (from a Greek deli) that went very well in the salad.  Although a vegan friend only gave it 3 out of 5, I felt it was more like feta than any other vegan version I have tried.  I really loved the mixed olives from the same deli which also gave lots of flavour.  It was a really nice salad with some leftovers for dinner and work lunches.

I had very relaxed birthday.  Freshly made cupcakes at a friend's place, lunch at the Pancake Parlour, free fries at Lord of the Fries, a movie (A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood) and some window shopping.  I got some really thoughtful presents.  The salad is presented in a beautiful bowl I was given by my family.  I also invited family and friends for a very pleasant birthday lunch and will share about it soon; once I have a bit more time and energy.

More salads on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Cobb salad with smoked nuts and blue cheese (gf)
Couscous salad with chermoula (v)
Green bean and broccoli tabbouleh (v)
Pesto pasta salad
Roasted potato salad with black olives and greens (gf, v)

Greek pasta salad
Adapted from The Kitchn
Serves 6

500g dry, small pasta, such as shells, ditalini, or elbows
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, plus more as needed
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 small clove garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large capsicum, diced (I used half red, half green)
2-3 medium tomatoes or 375g cherry tomatoes, diced
1 medium cucumber, diced
1 small red onion, diced (I used 2 spring onions)
1 cup pitted olives, coarsely chopped
200-250g feta cheese, crumbled (I used vegan)
basil to garnish (optional)

Cook pasta according to packet instructions.  When cooked drain and rinse in cold water.  Place in cold water with ice cubes to cool it down.

Meanwhile make dressing of red wine vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper.  Chop vegies and olives.  NB I used a medley of olives and then used some of the oil that the olives had marinated in for the dressing.

Mix cooled pasta, vegies, olives and dressing.  Then stir through feta.  Let sit 20 minutes and adjust flavours.  I drizzled in more red wine vinegar, olive oil and lemon juice until it tasted sharp enough to be flavoursome but not really sour.

Can be kept in fridge overnight or up to 5 days

On the Stereo:
The Crane Wife: The Decembrists