Ham & Artichoke Hearts Pasta Salad; beer festival

In addition to Old El Paso we have a great Italian section in our International Foods Aisle at my supermarket.

Every supermarket has such an aisle and the choices are usually similar. One might have more British options (marmite and Typhoo tea) while another might have a greater selection from Spain (anchovy stuffed olives). They all have Mexican food and peanut butter in the U.S. section.

The Italian section has my favorite jars of marinated vegetables: peppers, onions, eggplant and, of course, artichoke hearts.

Click here to Pin Ham & Artichoke Hearts Pasta Salad

Ham & Artichoke Hearts Pasta Salad

Print Recipe

The pasta is cooked but everything else is cold. The pasta can be cooked ahead and the salad assembled at any time.

• Author: Kate
• Prep Time: 10
• Cook Time: 20
• Total Time: 20 minutes
• Yield: 2 servings 1x
• Category: Pasta Salad

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 1/4 cups (4oz, 120gr) pasta, bite-size
• 10oz (300 gr) ham, cut into cubes
• 10oz (300gr) marinated artichoke hearts, cut in half if large
• 2 tbs artichoke marinade (from the jar)
• 2 ribs celery, sliced
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters
• 3oz (90gr) feta cheese, cut into cubes
• 1/4 cup Greek olives, roughly chopped
• 2 tbs snipped chives
• 2 tbs snipped basil
• 1 1/2 tbs Dijon-style mustard
• 2 tbs white Balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbs salad olive oil

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Instructions

• Cook pasta according to package directions.
• Drain and rinse lightly with cool water.
• Make vinaigrette:
• Put mustard, vinegar and artichoke marinade into a small bowl.
• Slowly whisk in olive oil.
• Combine all ingredients in a large salad bowl.
• Add vinaigrette and stir well.

Notes

Use any color bell pepper you like and any cubed cheese you prefer.
I used both red & yellow cherry tomates

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1/2 recipe
• Calories: 783
• Sugar: 8 g
• Sodium: 2736.2 mg
• Fat: 35.5 g
• Saturated Fat: 11.2 g
• Trans Fat: 0 g
• Carbohydrates: 72.2 g
• Fiber: 6.6 g
• Protein: 43.7 g
• Cholesterol: 73.1 mg

Keywords: pasta salad, ham, artichoke hearts

I finally have tomatoes.

There are at least 100 on the vines, green, but I am finally getting a few ripe tomatoes, especially the cherry tomatoes and the Romas.

Finally.

However…..

I order my seeds from a small, local company. They sell in small quantities, unlike the garden stores.

Usually what I order, and what the package says, is actually what grows when I plant it. The seeds come in tiny paper envelopes with typed labels stuck on.

This year I have mystery tomatoes.

1 dark red, small tomato has replaced my regular-size red tomato.

I have 2 large dark purple / green tomato plants and no orange.

The green zebra is nowhere to be found and I still have 1 plant with beefsteak-size green tomatoes that have not ripened yet. No idea what color they’ll be.

The red beefsteak is a variegated orange / yellow.

As to the taste…. They are all wonderful!

One should expand one’s horizons.

On another note- I grew up in Wisconsin. We had beer tents and beer festivals and Beer & Brat parties.

Here in France we have ‘Nuits Gourmandes’ or Gourmet Nights. There are tables setup for eating and the area is full of food trucks selling starters or main courses or cheese courses or salads or desserts or wine.

One brings the plates and cutlery and glasses from home, then takes a plate to the chosen food purveyor for whichever course. Pick up the steak at the butcher, then take it to the grill master for cooking, etc.

But there is hope for an old beer-drinking Wisconsinite.

I saw this on our bike ride last week:

It’s a Beer Festival!

I have no idea what that entails but we hope to find out….. Pandemic willing.

The last Beer Festival we went to was Oktoberfest in Munich – back when we were young and could handle litre / quart steins of beer.

Who knows what we’ll find at this one.