SALAD

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2 tsp cooking salt

500 g fusilli spiral pasta, or other short pasta of choice (penne, macaroni, bow ties)

200 g feta', crumbled

½ red onion, finely sliced

250 g cherry tomatoes, halved

1 Lebanese cucumber, halved lengthways, finely sliced 1.5 mm thick

100g or 2 tightly packed cups baby rocket

30g or 3 lightly packed cups basil leaves, roughly torn

140g (1 cup) drained sliced kalamata olives

175g (1 cup) red pepper strips (310 g jar), drained and cut into 3 cm pieces

300g (2½ cups) artichokes (460 g jar), drained and cut into 2 cm pieces

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SUN-DRIED TOMATO PESTO

125ml of ½ cup pasta cooking water

Two x 220g (440g total) jars sun-dried tomato strips in oil (including the oil)

3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

50g or ½ tightly packed cup finely grated parmesan

1 tsp finely grated garlic (1 large clove)

½ tsp cooking salt

50g or ⅓ cup pine nuts, toasted

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1. Cook pasta - Bring 5 litres of water to the boil with the salt. Add the pasta and cook as per the packet directions plus 2 minutes to make it very soft, Just before draining, scoop out ½ cup (125 ml) of the pasta cooking water and set aside - we need this for the pesto. (Pasta hardens when it cools so that’s why we want to overcook it very slightly).

2. Drain the pasta, briefly rinse with cold tap water, then shake off the excess water well. Leave in the colander to dry and cool to room temperature.

3. Pesto - Place all the pesto ingredients, except the pine nuts, in a food processor. Use all the oil from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes and don't forget the pasta cooking water! (It's fine if is still hot.) Blitz for 15 seconds on low until the sun-dried tomatoes are smooth, scraping the sides as needed. Add the pine nuts and blitz again until they are very finely chopped.

4. Assemble - Set aside a quarter of the feta for topping. Place the pasta and all the sun-dried tomato pesto in a very large bowl. Toss well, then add the remaining salad ingredients and toss again.

5. Serve - Tumble into a large serving bowl. Crumble over the remaining feta and serve!

6. Video directions also available here on the weblink.