Tortellini Salad with Roasted Vegetables

It got hot. Not warm — hot. Chicago hot, which is a specific kind of misery involving humidity that sits on your chest like a second person. The park district pool opened for the season and suddenly my desk is Grand Central Station — parents with season passes, kids dripping on the lobby floor, a line out the door by ten in the morning. I like it. I like the chaos of it. There is something reassuring about a community pool in June — the way it proves that people still do normal things, still buy swim passes and pack towels and bring kids who scream when the water's cold. Normal is underrated. I am a connoisseur of normal.

I didn't see Jess this week. She canceled Tuesday — said she wasn't feeling great, which could mean a cold or could mean something else, and I have lost the ability to hear "not feeling great" without my brain running a threat assessment. I texted her Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday she replied. Thursday she didn't. I told myself that people don't reply to texts sometimes, that it doesn't mean anything, that I am not her keeper. I told myself that and I didn't believe it and I went to bed Thursday with my phone on my chest, volume up, waiting for the buzz that didn't come. She texted Friday morning: "sorry was sleeping." Okay. Okay. I exhaled for the first time in eighteen hours.

Made a pasta salad for the week — the summer staple, the thing I'll make every week until September because it's cheap and cold and you can eat it straight from the container standing in front of the open fridge at midnight, which is a dining experience I recommend. Rotini, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, black olives from a can, Italian dressing. I added chickpeas this time for protein because I read somewhere that chickpeas are good for you and they were ninety-nine cents a can, which means they are good for you and good for your wallet, the holy grail of budget cooking.

Sunday dinner at Babcia Rose's. She made go??bki — stuffed cabbage rolls, rice and pork wrapped in cabbage leaves and simmered in tomato sauce until they're soft enough to cut with a fork. I sat at the counter and watched her roll them, her hands sure and quick despite being eighty-six, and I tried to memorize the motion the way I've been trying to memorize everything about her kitchen. She caught me staring and said, "What." I said, "Nothing." She said, "Stop staring and chop the onion." So I chopped the onion. Love has instructions in this family, and the instructions usually involve a knife and a cutting board.

The chickpea rotini version I threw together this week got me thinking about the pasta salad I keep meaning to level up — and this tortellini salad with roasted vegetables is exactly that upgrade. When the heat is unbearable and you need something that lives in the fridge and asks nothing of you at midnight, chewy tortellini with caramelized vegetables hits different than plain rotini, and honestly, after the week of waiting and phone-watching and exhaling on Friday morning, I deserved something that felt a little more like a treat and a little less like survival mode.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 40 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

20 oz refrigerated cheese tortellini
1 medium zucchini, diced into 1/2-inch pieces
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 red onion, diced
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt and black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and roughly chopped
1/2 cup kalamata olives, halved
1/3 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
1/2 cup shaved or grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup Italian dressing (store-bought or homemade)
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Instructions

Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 425°F. Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper or foil.
Roast the vegetables. Spread the zucchini, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, and red onion on the prepared sheet pan. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, sprinkle with garlic powder, salt, and pepper, and toss to coat. Roast for 20–25 minutes, until edges are caramelized and vegetables are tender. Let cool to room temperature.
Cook the tortellini. Meanwhile, cook tortellini according to package directions until al dente. Drain, rinse with cold water to stop cooking, and toss with the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil to prevent sticking.
Make the dressing. In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the Italian dressing, red wine vinegar, and dried oregano.
Assemble the salad. In a large bowl, combine the cooled tortellini, roasted vegetables, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, and fresh basil. Pour the dressing over the top and toss gently to combine.
Add Parmesan and chill. Fold in the Parmesan. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving to let the flavors meld. Serve cold, straight from the container if needed.

Nutrition (per serving)

Tortellini Salad with Roasted Vegetables — The Cold Pasta That Gets Me Through Every Chicago Summer