The pantry pasta salad that’s ridiculously simple to make

This pasta salad is a crowd pleaser that never fails to hit the spot.

Tasty but easy, this antipasto pasta salad is a cinch. Photography: Rochelle Eagle

Jessica Prescott

less than 2 min read

4:22PMSeptember 25, 2024

The Weekend Australian Magazine

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This salad is a flavour bomb of everyone’s favourite antipasti ingredients, and is a great recipe to have up your sleeve if you don’t love to cook. If you can boil a pot of pasta, you can make this salad. The rest of the work is done through the mastery of pickling and preserving – other people’s pickling and preserving. With the added freshness of rocket (arugula) and basil, the tang of parmesan and the crunch of pine nuts, this pasta salad is a crowd pleaser that never fails to hit the spot.

Try too my: lemon and ricotta pasta salad recipe and my charred broccoli pasta salad recipe.

Antipasti makes a great salad option. Photography: Rochelle Eagle

This is an edited extract from Epic Salads by Jessica Prescotts. Photography: Rochelle Eagle

Antipasti pasta salad

Ingredients

Salad

• 300g dried pasta (I like penne for this one)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra if needed
• 2 tablespoons capers
• 100g semi-dried or slow-roasted tomatoes, halved
• 100g roasted red capsicum, sliced
• 100g artichoke hearts, preferably the kind that are pickled in vinegar, quartered
• Handful rocket
• Handful basil leaves, larger ones roughly chopped or sliced
• Handful pine nuts, toasted
• 100g shaved parmesan
• Chilli flakes or black pepper, to serve

Dressing

2 tablespoons olive tapenade

Method

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to the directions on the packet. Drain, then run under lots of running cold water until cool. Shake off any excess water, then stir the tapenade through the pasta, ensuring it is evenly coated. Add the capers, semi-dried tomatoes, roasted capsicum and artichokes, and stir so everything is well combined.
2. Depending on whether your deli delights were pickled in brine or marinated in oil, the pasta should be coated in a thin layer of oil, but not dripping. Add olive oil, 1 teaspoon at a time, or tapenade if you think it needs it.
3. When ready to eat, add the rocket, basil, most of the pine nuts and most of the parmesan. Toss to combine, then top with the remaining pine nuts and parmesan, and chilli flakes or freshly cracked black pepper, to taste. Dress with tapenade.
4. Serves 3-4