Greek Pasta Salad!

I had a jar of sun dried tomatoes packed in oil, a can of artichoke hearts, and shelf full of Barilla pasta and I wanted to make something with these ingredients.  As I have told you before, I love Barilla pasta. 

Guess what those sweet people at the Barilla pasta company did?   Someone there saw my post on the

BLT Pasta Salad where I mention I only use Barilla pasta and think it's just the best and they sent me a box full of various Barilla pastas.  That was so nice!

I love a good pasta salad and I also love Greek inspired food, so I decided to incorporate the two and the results were fantastic.  I think what makes this pasta salad is the dressing.  The dressing is so good I am going to make another batch to keep in the fridge for tossed salad.   Here is what you will need for this:

8 oz. bow tie pasta

1/2 cup sweet onion, diced

1/2 large red or green bell pepper, diced

1 (14 oz.) can of artichoke hearts, drained

1 (7oz.) jar of sun dried tomatoes, packed in oil

2 cups small black olives or 2 cups medium black olives halved

8 oz. Feta cheese crumbled

Dressing

Zest of 1 lemon

juice of 1 lemon

2 Tbs. apple cider vinegar

1 Tbs. Dijon mustard

1 tsp. Greek seasoning

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp. basil

2 tsp. sugar

4 Tbs. of the oil from the sundried tomatoes

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 Tbs. Parsley

Cook the pasta as directed on the box in salted water, just until al dente, about a minute less than directed.   Drain in a colander and just let it hang out while you chop the vegetables.  I do not rinse with cold water like so many recipes say, because I think if the pasta is slightly warm it dresses better.

Chop the sun dried tomatoes in bite size pieces. Save the oil for the dressing.  Drain the artichoke hearts and quarter them.   Diced the onion and bell pepper.   In a large bowl combine the pasta with the tomatoes, artichoke hearts, onion, bell pepper, black olives and feta cheese. 

In another bowl, make the dressing.   Zest the lemon and then squeeze it for juice.  Add in all of the other ingredients except the olive oil.  Whisk it all well to be sure the sugar dissolves.  At the end slowly pour in the olive oil, whisking all the time.  This will make it emulsify and thicken.  This dressing was so good I wanted to lick the bowl!

Pour the dressing over the pasta and gently toss so you don't mash the pasta!  Place in pretty salad bowl and sprinkle with the parsley.  Enjoy!