pasta salad

suki1964

Once boiled cool the pasta straight away by running it under the cold tap. Then once cold, drain and either add the dressing or a tiny drop of oil as already said

I like to use sweet chilli sauce as a dressing, adding peppers, corn, red onion,and chicken if I'm eating it as a main course

Mayonnaise with chicken and sweet corn is popular.

To add more guts, add a bit of pesto to the mix, add basil leaves. Basically add what ever you have

ostrichnomore_2

They won't be identical but pasta salads are quite easy to make. Cook the meat/vegetables (although some veg are good raw, onion and peppers for example). Cook pasta being careful not to overdo it, it needs to be 'al-dente' then as soon as it's cooked rinse it well under cold running water until completely cold. Tip it out onto kitchen towel/cloth, spread out and leave to dry out otherwise the dressing won't really stick. Then mix all the ingredients with mayo/yoghurt/creme fraishe in any combination. Adding a few chopped fresh herbs and chives, and a bit of grated cheese, is nice.

GinaG3

Cook the pasta as usual, rinse with cold water after, leave for drain for a bit and chill in the fridge in a container while you do the rest. Putting on a frying pan and fry some chicken, alternatively you can grill this. Cut into slices, bitesize pieces, however you like it. Allow to cool and place in the container with the pasta, leave in fridge. Add some tinned corn, or frozen corn thats been boiled till cooked, your preference. Diced onion, peppers, garlic, whatever takes your fancy. Make up whatever sauce you want, tomato and basil, BBQ, peri peri, mayo, sour cream the list goes on and on. Add to the container, shake/stir it up to cover all the veg, meat and pasta cool in the fridge for a while again and EAT!

The rinse is the most important bit as that removes the excess starch that makes it stick together. I wouldn't use oil as the sauce wont stick as well as it should, a cold water rinse should be absolutely fine. Try it.

Fruball

ostrichnomore wrote: »

They won't be identical but pasta salads are quite easy to make. Cook the meat/vegetables (although some veg are good raw, onion and peppers for example). Cook pasta being careful not to overdo it, it needs to be 'al-dente' then as soon as it's cooked rinse it well under cold running water until completely cold. Tip it out onto kitchen towel/cloth, spread out and leave to dry out otherwise the dressing won't really stick. Then mix all the ingredients with mayo/yoghurt/creme fraishe in any combination. Adding a few chopped fresh herbs and chives, and a bit of grated cheese, is nice.

^^^^ This is what I do. Don't over cook the pasta and rinse it as soon as cooked, under cold running water.

Re flavours, the only restriction is your imagination!

Jo4

Thanks for all the replies. :T

I cooked the pasta this evening and I placed it into the fridge before going for a 20 minute walk. When I came back it was cold enough to eat and it hadn't stuck. I added mayonnaise and sweetcorn (I have to do the shopping over the weekend so haven't much in that I though I could add to it apart from bacon, chicken etc which hubby didn't want) and it tasted fine. :j :beer:

Tink_04

Hi was hoping someone could point me in the direction of some easy pasta recipes that could be used as cold lunches for work? thanks xx

Pink.

Tink_04 wrote: »

Hi was hoping someone could point me in the direction of some easy pasta recipes that could be used as cold lunches for work? thanks xx

Here you go: pasta salad

Pink

ciderwithrosie_2

When the OH makes pasta salad, he cooks the pasta in stock, either chicken or vegetable, with a few other extras like worcester sauce, ketchup, onion salt. I know it all gets drained away at the end so not very MS but it does make it taste more interesting. He also stirs in a spoon of mayonnaise when it's drained to stop it sticking together as it cools. Then you can add what you like to it.

squeakysue

I loooove pasta salads with loads of chopped veg/salad maybe some meat or tuna. I use mayo for tuna pasta but would like to get more adventurous with tasty dressings. Does anyone have any nice relatively simple recipes? Would bottled salad dressings work?

Sorry if there is already a thread on this, I couldn't find one.

SavingPennies_2

I like a good drizzle of chilli and/ or garlic oil, not sure it counts as adventurous but very easier and a bit healthier than mayo. Stops the pasts sticking together as much too.