Creamy Arugula Olive Pasta Salad

🧂 Ingredients

• 16 oz fusilli or other short pasta shape
• 9 large eggs, hard boiled/steamed, peeled, & chopped
• 1 cup celery hearts with leaves, washed & small diced
• ¾ cup creamy garlic parmesan salad dressing

  (substitute creamy dill, ranch, green goddess, or creamy house dressing)
• 4 oz arugula, washed and finely chopped

  2 ½ cups, approx.
• ⅓ cup kalamata olives, pitted & chopped
• ¼ cup ham, diced

  (optional, omit for vegetarian/kosher option)
• 3 tbsp apple cider or white wine vinegar
• 1 tsp flaky or kosher salt

  (or to taste, or sub less regular salt)
• 1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground

  (or to taste)

Instructions

• 1 Wash and chop all vegetables. If you have baby arugula, you can leave it whole,
  or you can chop it slightly. More mature arugula should be picked over to remove
  any coarse stems and roughly chopped into bite sized pieces.
• 2 If you are making homemade creamy salad dressing or dressing from a seasoning
  packet, mix that now and refrigerate to allow the flavors to come together.
• 3 Boil or steam the eggs. I like to steam the washed eggs over the boiling pasta
  pot, as they cook in 9 to 11 minutes, which is the same as most pasta shapes
  suitable for this recipe.
• 4 To steam eggs: Place the eggs in the steamer basket over the pot of pasta water
  as it comes up to a boil, and cook for 9 minutes for still slightly jammy eggs
  or up to 11 for fully done eggs.
  
  If you don't place the eggs over the pot of water to gently preheat as the water
  heats up, they will take longer to cook, so adjust steaming time accordingly if
  necessary.
• 5 Cook pasta in rapidly boiling salted water according to package directions. Test
  at the minimum recommended time and do not overcook the pasta or it will get
  soggy in the dressing.
• 6 Drain and shock the pasta with cold water to stop the cooking, and drain again.
• 7 Peel the eggs, rinsing them to remove any bits of shell, roughly chop them, and
  set aside.
• 8 Fold together all ingredients, tossing well until everything is well combined
  and evenly coated in the dressing.
• 9 I like to add the eggs towards the end so that they stay together, but you can
  add them with the rest of the ingredients if you prefer.
• 10 Chill the salad at least one hour before serving if possible so that the flavors
  can come together. This is even better the second day.

Nutrition Info