Delectables with Dan Presents: Vegan Meatball Pasta Salad

Delectables with Dan 

Presents: 

Danny's Vegan Meatball Pasta Salad 

It's that time of year again when people start to strip off their clothes, go outside and generally become more annoying. But, I have a tasty solution that may help you to stave off the urge to beat those around you and that's my vegan meatball garden salad. You can easily sub regular meatballs or even eggplant balls for the vegan ones. 

1 pound tricolour pasta*

1 jar of sliced manzanilla olives 

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1-2 tablespoons garlic salt 

6-8 cooked vegan meatballs of choice*

1-2 tablespoons dried basil

1-2 tablespoons fresh cracked black pepper

1/2 tin of tinned Italian style tomatoes (petite diced work best)

3-4 tablespoons nutritional yeast OR vegan parmesan cheese  

*Also works great with homemade carrot, green squash and yellow squash noodles. You can do so by spiralling your own noodles or buying them in the frozen vegetable section at your local store. 

*Vegan eggplant meatballs also work great in this recipe. You can also use. Falafel if you wish as well. I’ve not tried it with that but a friend of mine has and says that it’s just as good. 

**You can also use vegan parmesan rather than nutritional yeast-based on personal preference. 

Let’s Mix 

You will need to cook the pasta in a bit of salted water before using in this recipe. I shouldn’t have to say it but I do, there are all kinds of morons afoot on the internet…and driving cars…and possibly worse, voting. We might get back to that later. In a large bowl pour the cooked pasta and drizzle the extra virgin olive oil over it. Oh, wait, there’s another thing I have to say here that should be obvious, but you need to cook the meatballs before you put them in the salad. After you’ve added the olive oil, add the seasonings; garlic salt, basil, nutritional yeast, and the black pepper. Using a cooking spoon, mix all of the ingredients together. *If using Parmesan cheese you add it now in place of the nutritional yeast. If you want a stronger flavour to add more seasoning. <Before you condemn a man, remember that I am white and white people aren’t known for seasoning their food. You may prefer a bit more seasoning.> Dice up the meatballs and put them into the salad, followed by the olives and the tomatoes. Give a decent stir. And there you have it! A tasty summer-inspired treat that you really can eat year-round! 

Pairs well with vegan cheesy mushrooms, veggie burgers, veggie dogs and other garden salads filled with fresh fruit and veg for a complete summer dish! There will be new Delectables with Dan in the works so keep an eye out for it. Dan's Tastes of Summer will be coming back and there will be all-new dinner ideas, desserts and more.