Dad's Simple Pasta Salad

August is National Farmers' Market Month and August 7-13 was National Farmers' Market Week The staff at the Kansas Department of Agriculture participated in a cookoff and created dishes using produce that was grown in Kansas.
Secretary Beam was our judge and deemed "Dad's Simple Pasta Salad" made by Suzanne Ryan-Numrich in first place.
Ingredients
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- 1 red onion
- 1 peach, sliced
- 1-pound short cut pasta, such as fusilli
- 1 ½ cups basil pesto
- 1 ½ cups cubed sharp cheddar cheese
- 1 head broccoli cut into small florets
- 1 red or orange bell pepper sliced
- ½ cup Kalamata olives pitted
- ½ cup oil-packed sundried tomatoes, drained (oil reserved) and sliced
- ¼ cup pickled pepperoncini, drained and chopped
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 ripe but firm nectarine, pitted and thinly sliced
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- ½ cup fresh basil leaves, torn
- 12 sliced pepperoni chopped
- ½ cup sunflower seeds, tossed
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Cook the pasta until al dente according to the packaged directions. Drain the pasta and transfer to a large serving bowl
- While the pasta is hot, add the pesto, cheddar cheese and broccoli. Toss well to combine.
- Add the bell pepper, olives, sun-drained tomatoes, basil pepperoni and sunflower seeds and toss to combine.
- Drizzle the reserved oil from the sun-dried tomatoes over the pasta and season with salt and pepper
- Serve warm or cold
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