Roasted Pepper Pasta Salad

Here’s the last of the pasta salads we had this summer. This recipe is from Food Network Kitchen, and originally had small mozzarella balls in it, but they were too expensive for me, so I used a block of mozzarella and cut it into chunks. Hey, it works and you save money! ;) The recipe also used fresh basil, but I didn’t have any and used dried instead. This is a very tasty pasta salad with a Mediterranean flair and I’m sure you’ll like it as we did.

So, let’s get cooking!

Set a pot of water to boiling for the pasta.

After washing the peppers, slice in half, remove the seeds and place upside down on a sheet pan. Don’t peel the garlic; simply place it on the sheet pan with the peppers.

Roast under the broiler for 7-8 minutes. When they’re done, you can place the peppers in a covered bowl to sit for a few minutes to help soften the peels.

While the peppers are basking under a tropical sun in the broiler, cut up the mozzarella cheese into ½ inch chunks.

When the water is ready, cook the mezzi rigatoni just until al dente. Drain and rinse well with cold water to cool off.

Peel the pepper halves, and then slice. Megan helped me, and we decided to cut the strips of sliced peppers in half.

Squeeze the garlic from their peels into a bowl. Mash, squish, do what you have to to make it all a mess. ;)

Add the oil, lemon juice, and basil and whisk until well blended.

In a large bowl, mix together the pasta, peppers, and cheese chunks. Add the dressing and stir well until thoroughly coated.

And you’re done! Enjoy! ~TMMF

Roasted Pepper Pasta Salad

12 oz mezzi rigatoni
½ each of red, yellow, and green
   Bell peppers
6 cloves garlic
1/3 c olive oil
Juice from 1 lemon
8 oz mozzarella
2 tsp dried basil