Andi's Pasta Salad W/Blue Cheese,broccoli and Grapes
- Ready In:
- 40mins
- Ingredients:
- 9
- Serves:
-
10
ingredients
- 1 (12 -16 ounce) package rotini pasta, cooked and drained, cooled completely (corkscrew shape)
- 1 bunch fresh broccoli, florets only, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 2 cups white seedless grapes or 2 cups red seedless grapes, halved, approximately, to taste
- 1 (15 ounce) can black olives (small or medium size)
- 1⁄2 - 1 cup red onion, sliced thinly or finely chopped
- 1 1⁄2 - 2 cups chunky-style bleu cheese salad dressing, approximately to taste, do not use fat free (such as Marie's)
- salt, to taste
- fresh ground black pepper, to taste
- crumbled cooked bacon or sunflower seeds, optional garnish
directions
- Combine pasta, broccoli, grapes, olives, and red onion in a large bowl.
- Pour all of the blue cheese dressing into a separate mixing bowl.
- Add enough of the reserved canning liquid from the olives to thin the dressing enough to your liking (*note:ifyou forgot to save the canning liquid, just use some cold water)- you may not need the full 1/4 cup, or you may need a little more- it depends upon how thick the bleu cheese dressing you purchased was.
- The idea is to make the dressing thin enough to evenly coat all of the veggies& pasta lightly.
- Mix thinned dressing with the veggie& pasta mixture and toss to coat well.
- Chill at least 2 hours or overnight to allow pasta to absorb the dressing a bit- the chilled salad will appear dry.
- Taste for seasonings- you may add a little salt& pepper if desired, but it may not be necessary depending upon the dressing brand you selected.
- Toss salad again before serving.
- Garnish if desired.
- Garnishing IDEAS: If you like a little crunch, please feel free to garnish this with some crumbled cooked bacon or some sunflower seeds- sometimes I have even stirred them into the salad itself.
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Reviews
-
Delicious, I made half a recipe as there is only 3 of us. Made it just as recipes says, used Thompson seedless grapes. Loved the crunch of the broccoli and the grapes a good combation with the dressing, garnished with toasted sunflower seeds. This will made a good summer time meal. Thanks for the recipe Heather.