Cooking for Pleasure: A festive pasta salad

Festive pasta salad. (By Patty Schied)

By Patty Schied

For the Juneau Independent’s community picnic, I decided to make a brightly colored pasta salad full of vegetables, cheese and salami. 

The great thing about a pasta salad is that you can add your favorite foods. Just use your imagination to make it colorful. The kind of pasta you choose is also up to you. Most popular are rotini and small macaroni. I used the ‘butterfly’ pasta called farfalle.  

This recipe will serve many people at a large picnic potluck. For a family or small gathering, only use a half pound of dried pasta.

Ingredients for pasta salad. (Photo by Patty Schied)

My recipe this time included:

• One pound of dried pasta

• Thinly sliced strips of salami (about a half cup)

• Small fresh mozzarella balls (about a cup and a half)

• Artichoke hearts (one jar) cut up

• Finely chopped parsley (1/2 cup)

• Thinly sliced green onions (about four)

• Cherry tomatoes cut in half (2 to 3 cups)

• Greek olives, sliced (1/2 cup)

Other options for your salad:

• Frozen peas

• One can of garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

• Chilled cooked fresh asparagus cut into 1 inch pieces

• Chopped celery

• One small cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced

• Roasted red peppers

• Diced pepperoni

Directions:  

Cook pasta according to package directions, making sure not to overcook. After about ten minutes, check to see if a pasta sample is ‘al dente’ which means you can bite it without it being mushy.

When cooked, rinse pasta in cold water, tossing it to make sure that it doesn’t stick. Place drained pasta in a large bowl.

Add selected vegetables, meats (if desired) and cheese. Toss with pasta and add the dressing.

Chopped vegetables for pasta salad. (Photo by Patty Schied)

Vinaigrette for pasta salad: 

(Note: If you don’t want to make a dressing, purchase your favorite)

• 1 cup olive oil (or vegetable oil of your choice)

• 1/3 cup white wine or red wine vinegar

• 1 teaspoon dried oregano

• 1 clove of garlic, grated 

• 2 teaspoons of honey

• 2 teaspoons of Grey Poupon mustard (optional)

• Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

For a creamier dressing, whisk in two tablespoons of mayonnaise.

Whisk all ingredients together and taste.  

Next, toss pasta salad with about half of the dressing. Then add just enough to coat. Taste for seasoning.

Chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours. After you have removed it from the refrigerator, taste again and if too dry, add more dressing.

Serve and enjoy. Happy Fourth of July!

• Patty Schied is a longtime Juneau resident who studied at the Cordon Bleu in London and has written a cookbook. Cooking For Pleasure appears every other week in the Juneau Independent's features. She welcomes questions about her column at patschied@yahoo.com.