If you haven’t been to the Mediterranean, this salad will bring you there in one delicious bite. I love this combination of flavors: fresh dill, olive oil, seasonings paired along side salty feta cheese and Kalamata Olives. It’s the perfect make-ahead salad for a picnic or summer party. You can serve it cool or warm. If you serve it warm add the cheese last, once the pasta has cooled, because you don’t want it to melt too much. Here are the directions.

Start by sauting about 5 cloves of thinly sliced garlic in a sauce pan. Use a few drizzles of a good quality extra virgin olive oil. In the meantime, bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and add one box of penne pasta (be sure to salt the water generously). Once the pasta is done, drain it and add the garlic and warmed olive oil to the pasta. Mix about a 1/2 cup of olive oil, add to that some salt and pepper and about 1 tablespoon of crushed Italian seasonings (or more) and 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. Shake this well and add it to the pasta. It will be like a dressing.

Open one small can of corn, drain, rinse and add that to the pasta. Dice about 2 tablespoons of fresh dill. Wash and dry one large bunch of scallions and dice the whites and light green parts. Then add the dill and scallions.  Then dice the red onion and add that to the pasta. Measure about 1 cup of Kalamata Olives reserve the juices. Dice the olives and add the olives and juices to the pasta.

Hint: A cold pasta needs more seasoning than a hot pasta, so taste it and be sure you don’t need to add more flavor with more Italian herbs. I think the dried Italian seasonings are great for this salad, but definitely opt for the fresh dill.

Lastly measure about 1/2 – 3/4 cup of feta cheese and add that to the cooled pasta and mix well. Serve at room temperature. Enjoy!