Antipasto Pasta

I bought 1 and 1/2 pounds of deli roast beef for a 'my sis is hungry' dish I wanted to make before realizing the night I was going to give it to her was the same night as her women's golf league banquet - so she wasn't going to be home to eat it. Great, I now have a ton of roast beef to figure out what to do with! Before I stuck it in the freezer to deal with later, she asked if I wanted to make a dish to pass for the banquet, didn't care what I made other than it needed to be a main dish - so I googled for ideas using deli roast beef (I'm smart like that hahah!). I've never had pasta salad with roast beef but that's kind of what I was looking for and found a recipe on Food Network for orecchiette salad with beef that gave me the inspiration for this salad. I adapted their recipe quite a bit based on what I had on hand - it reminds me of an antipasto appetizer platter so that's what I'm naming it, it was that or "kitchen sink pasta" ha!

Antipasto Pasta

• 1 lb. pasta (note: I can't remember the name of the one I used, it was a small tube with ruffles - wait, I just looked it up and it's called 'campanelle' pasta)
• 1 container of tiny mozzarella balls, halved
• 2 cups marinated artichoke hearts, chopped, along with some of the oil in the jar
• 1 small jar roasted red peppers, cut into small pieces
• 1 small bunch asparagus, cut into bite-sized pieces, roasted
• 1 cup corn kernels
• 3/4 lb. thinly sliced good-quality deli roast beef, cut into small strips

• olive oil
• lemon juice
• dijon mustard
• creamed horseradish
• chopped basil
• coarse salt, pepper
• Italian seasoning

Cook the pasta according to package directions; drain and rinse in cold water to stop it from continuing to cook. Put in a big bowl; drizzle with flavored oil from the marinated artichoke hearts, sprinkle with coarse salt, toss. 

For the dressing: Combine olive oil, lemon juice, dijon, and spices to taste, and toss with the pasta. I didn't measure the dressing amounts - I'll guess 1/3 cup olive oil, 2 T. lemon juice, 1 T. dijon, 1 T. creamed horseradish, 2 T. chopped basil, 1 T. Italian seasoning, salt and pepper to taste. You might need more so have extra ingredients on hand just in case (I'm saying that if you only have exactly 1/3 cup olive oil in the bottle you might need to run to the store!) - and all of these ingredients can be changed to your preference. 

Mix the dressing into the pasta, toss to coat. Add the other salad ingredients, toss again. Adjust the seasonings to taste, chill until ready to serve.

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