This combines all the great Italian flavours with the colours of the Italian flag: red, white and green. The flavours are amazing and it qualifies as "light food" despite the wonderful mixture of pasta, mozzarella, basil and olive oil. Yield: 8 cups / 1 kg
Cook, drain and rinse pasta in cold water; set aside to cool.
Toss in a salad bowl the following items:the cherry tomatoes, rinsed & halved;the green onions, rinsed & sliced;the cucumber, cut into chunks about 1 cm (½ inch) thick;mozzarella cheese, shredded
Then stir in the pasta.
Make the dressing from the olive oil, wine vinegar, basil, garlic and salt, pour it on the ingredients in the salad bowl, and toss.
Serve room temperature. If you are making this earlier in the day, chill until an hour before ready to serve.
Notes
2 ½ cups uncooked rotini = 250 g / 8 ozIf you are making this out of season, you can get away with dried basil (use about 1 tablespoon.)If you are using fresh basil, you can garnish the salad with a few leaves, chopped or whole.