Tuna Pasta Salad

I truly love a good pasta salad. I like that there are so many different ways you can make a pasta salad and so many different things that seem to go well in one-you can do different dressing, different veggies, add different meats (or no meats). I came across this recipe a few weeks ago and knew I had to try it.

It happened to be pretty hot the day I made this and I thought it was perfect for that.  I cooked the pasta in the late afternoon, mixed the ingredients and then stored it in the fridge to let the flavors all mix together.  I also think this salad would make a great lunch or even a nice side for outdoor picnic.

On another note, Matt does not like raw onions and so being the good wife that I am, I tend to omit most raw onions from recipes that call for them ;-)  However, my idea of a tuna salad always includes onions, so as a compromise for this recipe, I put in about 1 tablespoon of finely chopped onions into the salad and then served the rest of the onions on the side so that I could add them to my portion.  Both of us agreed that this worked great. 

Tuna Pasta Salad

1 pound rotelle or elbow pasta, cooked and cooled
3 cans tuna fish (packed in olive oil), undrained
1 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoon capers, drained
1/4 cup sundried tomatoes
1 1/2 cups black olives, pitted and chopped
1 red bell pepper. seeded and chopped
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Juice from 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Put the cooked pasta in a large mixing bowl.

Add the tuna with its oil, the onion, capers, tomatoes, olives, peppers, olive oil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper and toss to combine all ingredients.  Serve at room temperature or cold.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Adapted from Rao's Recipes from the Neighborhood: Frank Pelligrino Cooks Italian with Family and Friends