Summer Kalamata Pasta Salad
I adore this pasta salad and have been making it for 20 years. It’s also really easy to scale up or down depending on the crowd size and it’s also delicious served warm. Chilled is super nice on a hot summer day. *Also, if you buy Kalamata olives with the pit, they have much more flavor and they are worth the effort to remove in my opinion. If you disagree, simply buy pitted. Enjoy
Serves: 4
1/2 package penne pasta
12-15 Kalamata olives, pitted
10-15 large mint leaves, slivered
*optional: 3 green onions, slivered
Extra virgin olive oil
Maldon sea salt
Squeeze of fresh lemon juice
1/2 brick of feta, crumbled
Method:
Boil the pasta in heavily salted water until al dente.
Drain pasta and rinse under cold water until the pasta is cold to the touch.
Place the pasta in your serving bowl of choice and drizzle olive oil and toss to prevent the pasta from sticking, while you prepare the other ingredients.
Sliver or chiffonade the mint and optional green onions and toss into the bowl.
I like to wear gloves to pit the olives. Simply carefully slice each olive across the equator and using your fingers tear the olive around the pit. You can keep the olive in torn pieces or chop - up to you. Then toss into the bowl.
Crumble the feta over the pasta.
Season with a sprinkle of sea salt and lemon juice. Toss to evenly distribute ingredients and serve immediate or chill and consume within 24 hours since old pasta is actually a big contributor to food poisoning.