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Italian salad with pasta and ham

Italian Pasta Salad with Ham

Tasty pasta cooked al dente, Italian-style! This pasta salad is a breeze to make — just 20 minutes and you've got a light Mediterranean dinner. It comes out hearty, juicy, bright, and fragrant, and the ham gives it a special flavor.

UnicornSteak

Recipe author

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Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Pasta

180

Ham

140

Cherry tomatoes

Bell pepper

0.5

Green string beans

Green peas

Olive oil (extra-virgin)

Salt

Water

1.5

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 18 % 2 g

Fats 27 % 3 g

Carbohydrates 55 % 6 g

62 kcal

GI: 14 / 86 / 0

Cooking method

Cooking time: 20 min

Step 1:

How do you make an Italian pasta salad with ham? Start by getting all your ingredients ready. I recommend pasta with at least 13 g of protein. The cherry tomatoes should be firm and sweet, and I use yellow pepper for color. Rinse the vegetables under running water. My beans and peas are frozen, but fresh ones work too — just wash those first.
Step 2:

In a pot, bring 1 liter of filtered water to a boil. Add salt and the pasta. I cooked mine for 8 minutes after the water returned to a boil, to al dente (slightly firm inside), but the time depends on the pasta and how done you like it — check the package for cooking instructions. Drain the cooked pasta in a colander and rinse it with cold filtered water to stop the cooking.
Step 3:

In another pot, bring half a liter of filtered water to a boil, add a pinch of salt, and add the beans and peas. Blanch them for 5–7 minutes until tender, then drain them in a colander too.
Step 4:

Put the pasta in a deep bowl, toss it with olive oil. Even though we rinsed it after cooking, this keeps it from sticking together in the finished salad.
Step 5:

Cut the bell pepper into medium cubes and halve the cherry tomatoes.
Step 6:

Add the peas and beans to the bowl. Cut the ham into medium cubes.
Step 7:

Before serving, salt the salad if it needs it. You can garnish the dish with fresh herbs.

Everything in this salad is delicious: the savory ham, the durum-wheat pasta, the vegetables, and the olive oil. You can enjoy each ingredient on its own and all together! I also like that the salad isn't drowned in dressing — the olive oil doesn't overpower the flavors, it just brings them out.
Enjoy!
The salad looks neat and attractive when all the ingredients are cut into pieces of the same size and shape (cubes, for example).
It's best to cook with filtered or bottled water that has a neutral taste. Tap water can give the dish an unpleasant, characteristic aftertaste.