SS #18 - Tortellini Salad (A Winelover's Wanderings)

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I can't believe this is our last Sunday salad!
It has been so much fun to make these each week and blog about them. Just as we loved all of the soups, the salads have all been delicious!

Ida (Vico Girl on Slow Travel) chose this week's final salad. Here is what she said:

I've been making this for years and it's especially good for a buffet/party as it serves quite a few. Now... I've never really measured the exact amount of the ingredients I use, but I tried for ST so here goes:

Tortellini Salad

1 lb or a little bit more fresh or frozen tortellini or a Barilla bag of dry tortellini

Boil as per package instructions and set aside.Don't overboil them! COOL them down a bit. (I used fresh tricolored).

In a very very large bowl mix together:

1 container of pearl or small sized fresh mozzarella balls (I buy mine from Sam's Club or BJ's)

16 oz jar of Julienne cut Calif sundried tomatoes in oil (I use 3/4 of the jar) plus the oil! Just pour the oil into the bowl.

4 cloves garlic chopped superfine

1 large bunch Italian parsley chopped fine

1 jar black dried olives in oil pitted and sliced (this takes a while).

16 oz jar (or larger from Costco) marinated artichokes cut into pieces (I think mine was 24oz).

1 jar marinated red peppers cut in strips if you want (I stopped adding them).

S/P and some extra virgin olive oil

Now that you've mixed the above ingredients well, add cooked tortellini a few scoops at a time mixing well. Cover bowl with glad wrap and refrigerate overnite as it taste even better the following day after the flavors blend together. Serve at room temp! I served mine with grilled shrimp.

This recipe seems just made for improvisation (using things that you have on hand), so that is what I did!

I got the fresh tri-colored tortellini like Ida used - miraculously my Stater Brothers had it. Mozzarella balls were from Trader Joe's - I had them in the fridge.

A friend had given me some jars of Mezzetta products which seemed just perfect for this salad. The first one was a combination of veggies - green olives, dried tomatoes, kidney beans, artichoke hearts, garbanzo beans, and herbs in a red wine herb vinaigrette. The second jar was roasted bell peppers, which I chopped. I used a small jar of julienned sun-dried tomatoes from TJ's, and some pitted kalamata olives from the fridge, which I sliced.

So, after mixing all of the veggies together, I added the cooled tortellini. I garnished the bowl with cherry tomatoes from the garden.

The jar of marinated veggies did not have enough artichoke hearts, so next time I would use more of those. Thank you, Ida, for an easy, delicious recipe.

Here are my ingredients:

This is the jar of Mezzetta marinated vegetables:

The veggies and cheese balls are ready to be mixed together:

Another beautiful salad: