Italian Pasta Salad

I had the family over to celebrate my husband's birthday and we had and Italian feast - antipasto, manicotti, meatballs, sausage and garlic bread.  After we were all stuffed, there was still a lot of food left over.  The antipasto that I put together was from our favorite Italian market where I could put all the things I wanted, in the quantities I wanted, into containers to take home and put together my dish.  The recipe here is made using the things I had left over.  The things here can be added to or subtracted from based upon what you have on hand or what you like.  Olives, salami, pepperoni, Parmesan cheese or fresh mozzarella would be great in this salad. Fresh peppers and red onion would be a great addition too.  You can use other kinds of pasta as well.  Rotini, cavatapi or orzo would be good.  But if you have leftover pasta from dinner, use that.  This recipe is also good for a summer BBQ as there is no mayo to go bad and it can be served at room temperature as well as cold.  Make your own version of this salad using this recipe as a guide.  

Ingredients:

1 lb farfalle, cooked as directed on the box.  Save 1/4 cup of the cooking water.

1/4 cup roasted red peppers marinated in oil, diced

1/4 cup artichoke hearts, marinated in oil, diced

1/4 cup marinated mushrooms

8 sundried tomatoes, chopped

8 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced (chiffonade)

Reserved oil from the above veggies plus extra olive oil to make 1/4 cup

Salt

Pepper

Here's how:

Boil the water and prepare the pasta as directed on the box.  Set it aside when done and drained.  

While the pasta is cooking, chop up all the ingredients and the place them in a large bowl.

Take all the marinating oil and then add any extra to get to 1/4 cup.  Add it to the bowl.

Add the warm farfalle pasta and stir to combine.

If the pasta is too dry, add the reserved pasta water 2 TBS at a time.  I added just 2 TBS but you may like more.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Put the salad in the fridge and let cool.

If you like mozzarella or other cheese, add it once the pasta is cold.

Serve.