Tortellini Pasta Salad
1 bag Barilla tortellini, I prefer the Three Cheese variety
2 cups broccoli, trimmed to bite sized florets
1 can artichoke hearts, coarsley chopped
8 oz skim mozzarella, diced to 1/2 inch cubes
1 roasted red pepper, diced
1 bottle italian dressing, I prefer Wegmans Fat Free Parmesan Italian
Prepare the tortellini according to package instructions. Toss the broccoli into the pasta pot 1 or 2 minutes before pasta is cooked and allow to blanch quickly. Drain well and run under cool water to stop cooking.
Once cool, toss pasta with veggies & cheese and a 1/4 cup or so of the dressing. Refrigerate until ready to serve. If salad appears dry, add a few more tablespoons of dressing and toss to coat.
Time to Create: 30 minutes, start to finish.
Time to Concept: Can’t really recall, I’ve been making versions of this for years. Swap out fixins as you see fit. Ham, pepperoni, baby spinach leaves, black olives…pretty much anything you could put on a pizza could easily added in.
Time to Consume: This is ALWAYS a huge hit. And every time I serve it people are perplexed as to why they never thought to use tortellini instead of plain old rotini. I recently served this at a BBQ with six cold salad options (I do not kid around about BBQs) and this was the first to go. It’s a winner for sure!
