Recipe: Costantino’s Kitchen Pasta Salad

Local resident Christopher Costantino recently added three new spice blends to his line of gourmet food products – Costantino’s Kitchen. You may remember our write-up about his Grandma Angie’s Tomato Basil Italian Pasta Sauce and garlic oils here.

The new spice blends include:

The Tuscan Steak Rub – described as “A perfect mixture of herbs and spices that takes even the cheapest cut of beef to new heights. Just rub on the meat with a little olive oil before cooking and grill, broil or pan-sear. Also excellent on lamb or pork.”

The Gusto spice blend – “An all-purpose spice rub that adds flavor and zing to chicken, fish, shrimp and vegetables without adding any salt.”

And, the Italian Herb Blend – “A ‘kicked up’ version of Italian Seasoning. It combines some great herbs with onion powder and a little crushed red pepper.”

Each of the spice blends retails at $3.99 a piece and can be purchased online at costantinoskitchen.com or various local farmers’ markets.

Check out Costantino’s Pasta Salad recipe below:

Pasta Salad

Dressing:

• 2 tablespoons champagne wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Costantino’s Kitchen Italian Herb Blend
• 6 tablespoons Costantino’s Kitchen Mild Garlic Oil

Salad:

• 16 ounces tricolor rotini pasta, cooked and cooled
• 1 red pepper, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 yellow pepper, cut into bite-sized pieces
• ½ pound crimini mushrooms, quartered
• 2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
• ¼ pound cheese, cut in ½” cubes
• ¼ pound hard salami, cut in chunks
• ¼ cup kalamata olives, pitted
• ¼ cup Italian parsley, chopped
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

To make the dressing: Place vinegar and herb blend into a blender jar and let sit for 15 minutes. Turn on the blender and slowly drizzle in oil.

To make the salad: Toss all ingredients with dressing. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve cold.