Seafood and Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

1 pound pasta; - shells, farfelle, or other 

1 pound fresh crabmeat; - or imitation 

1 pound shrimp; - frozen salad shrimp 

4 large scallions; - diagonally sliced 

1 medium yellow pepper; - or orange 

4 large hard-boiled eggs; - optional 

10 medium cherry tomatoes; - cut in half 

2 tablespoons olive oil 

2 cloves garlic; - crushed 

1/2 bunch fresh italian parsley 

Salad dressing: 

1/3 cup vinegar 

1 cup olive oil 

1 teaspoon garlic; chopped 

1 teaspoon dry italian seasoning 

1 dash salt; to taste 

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Preparation:

Cook pasta and cool in a glass bowl. Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add shrimp and saute until the shrimp are pink and tender...about three minutes. Add scallions and garlic to shrimp and toss lightly. Remove heat and set aside. You can skip this step if you are using frozen, cooked shrimp.

Cut peppers into 1-inch pieces. Cut tomatoes in half and cut three boiled eggs in slices. Add peppers, tomatoes and eggs to the pasta. Add 1 pound of fresh crabmeat that has already been checked for shells into bowl with pasta. Add cooked shrimp, scallions and garlic mixture to the bowl with pasta. Pour dressing over salad and toss until mixed. Garnish with parsley and refrigerate.

How to Prepare Dressing:

Pour 1/3 cup vinegar, 1 cup olive oil, 1 tsp. chopped garlic, 1 tsp. Italian seasoning and salt and pepper to taste into a jar with a lid. Shake and pour over salad. Alternatively you can use bottled Italian dressing.

Allow salad to marinate for at least 30 minutes while chilling. Serve cold on a bed of lettuce.