Tuna, Cheese and Pasta Salad

Submitted by Cher Jewhurst

"Three-color pasta, cubed cheese, tuna, and roasted sweet peppers blend into a spunky salad that we enjoy over 2 suppers during hot summer days. This is an excellent salad that I've served with or without cashews since sometimes I forget those. Fresh basil is essential to this recipe and we just have some fancy fresh breads and butter with it. I don't recall which of my magazines I got this from but it's favorite of mine."

 

• Ready In: 15mins
• Ingredients: 10
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 2 cups dried tri-colored fusilli or 2 cups rotini pasta
• 3⁄4 3/4 cup cheddar cheese or 3/4 cup provolone cheese
• 2⁄3 cup frozen peas
• 1⁄2 cup celery
• 2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil leaves
• 1⁄2 cup creamy roasted garlic salad dressing or 1/2 cup peppercorn ranch dressing
• 7 ounces chunk tuna in water, drained
• 1 (7 ounce) jar roasted red peppers, drained and coarsely chopped
• romaine lettuce leaf
• 1⁄3 cup roasted cashews

directions

1. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain.
2. Rinse with cold water; drain again.
3. Transfer pasta to large bowl.
4. Stir in cheese, peas, celery and basil, AND tuna and peppers. (Thanks Sandylee for catching this).
5. Pour salad dressing over pasta mixture; toss gently to combine.
6. Cover and chill for 2 - 8 hours.
7. To serve, stir in a few tablespoons additional salad dressing, if necessary, to moisten pasta mixture.
8. Arrange romaine leaves in salad bowl or on chilled dinner plates.
9. Top with pasta mixture.
10. Sprinkle with cashews.

Reviews

[JackieOhNo!]

This really is an excellent version of pasta salad with tuna. I used cheddar cheese and a creamy roasted garlic Caesar salad dressing with 2 (7 oz.) cans of tuna (we like a lot of tuna). I also used a combination of roasted red and yellow peppers, which livened up the color even further! I did not use the cashews or lettuce (since I packed this in a container to take to work for lunch). I think the fresh basil really punched things up, but the whole recipe was delicious! Thanks for sharing! Made for Fall PAC 2012.