For every holiday barbecue, cookout, or just a fun filled backyard party.. you need to include cold salads! It is a total summer food essential, and it pairs so amazingly with hot, juicy meats off the fiery grill! Of course we love the traditional macaroni, potato, and pasta salads for a memorable feast on Memorial Day weekend, but as you Diamonds know, I love nothing more than switching things up, and keeping you all on your toes. 😉 If you are a past lover.. even better, a stuffed pasta lover, this is the salad for you! There are very few of us out there who don’t love pasta salads, so with this being kicked up a notch.. having the inside of the raviolis stuffed with spinach and cheese, there aren’t going to be many people not fighting over the last of these babies laying in the bowl at the end of the party!!

One of the many wonderful things I love about pasta salads is how beautifully colorful they are! You can fill them with as much color as you want, and thats what I love so much about the culinary arts world; even more so in the summer months!

It’s pretty obvious that we can’t have ravioli pasta salad without the ravioli’s! These little pretty pouches are filled with spinach and cheese, but you can even choose just ricotta filled if thats what you desire most.

• Fill a stock pot half way with water. When the water comes to a boil, salt it and slowly shake your raviolis in from the bag. Cook the raviolis for 3-5 minutes. When they’re done cooking you will be able to see through them, and they will also be floating at the top of the water!

As for the yummy veggies in our salad.. start by thinly slicing different colored mini bell peppers. I only used two! Then after slicing, i went ahead and small diced them, so that when you are enjoying the salad you aren’t going to be chewing on large bites of raw bell pepper. Sometimes the flavor of a raw pepper can be a little too overpowering, especially in a cold salad!

Honestly, in every single cold salad I make I need to add an onion into the mix no matter what kind it may be. For this salad specifically I went with thinly sliced scallions. Scallions give dishes that amazing mild onion flavor with a pop of freshness. They’re not too strong, and not too weak. It’s pretty much perfect for the flavor profile we want to achieve inside this magical garden of a ravioli salad!

You Diamonds already know I need to chop up a fresh herb to toss in with this beautifulness! I think fresh herbs just make a salad really pop with color, and with taste as well.

In a serving bowl: slide in all of our vegetables and herbs that we just finely chopped up, along with a healthy handful of grated parmesan cheese, dried oregano, dried basil, and dried onion flakes. 

To complement the spinach inside of the ravioli itself, I took two nice handfuls of fresh spinach to thinly slice up to throw in with everything to kind of act as another “herb” if you will. It adds an awesome brightness to the salad once everything is mixed together!

Throw the spinach into the bowl, along with a 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella, and six blend Italian cheeses all combined together.

Once you’ve piled all that stringy delicious cheese in, you may also toss in your spinach and cheese filled ravioli.

It might be because red is my favorite color, but it just never feels right having a pasta salad without some red Rubys shinning all around. Hehe. I believe roasted red peppers are the ideal way to add the rich red color that I strongly know it needs!

After the peppers, I wanted to add another type of texture and flavor. Green olives were the first things to come to mind, and I think the saltness paired great with everything else that came along with this dish.

All this unique holiday salad needs is some salt and pepper to taste, the best Italian dressing you think you have ever had in your life (this is what will truly make or break this salad), and finally a good hefty drizzle of olive oil.

• As some of you Diamonds may have already known for previous posts.. I enjoy finishing many of my creations with a gorgeous glisten of olive oil. I love the way it give something that highlighted glow, and a silky texture when you eat it.

This Memorial Day weekend is meant for remembering, and being grateful for everything we have in our country! The way we know how to honor that best is by enjoying the finest foods we adore. For some reason.. I have always associated this weekend with the very beginning of summer activities; even though technically, it is not summer yet.  It’s the final start of grilling season, and big summer bashes! I hope this salad can be apart of your memorial day festivities tomorrow, and if you Diamonds recreate it I would absolutely love to see what you served along side of it!

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Follow me @therealdeepfrieddiamonds on Instagram and tag me in your memorial party pictures! 

Have fun and be safe! XOXO