I changed to pasta salad for cold buffets
By marguicha
@marguicha (223720)
Chile
May 12, 2011 3:41pm CST
I have been making potato salads since forever when I have many people for diner and I want to cook ahead. I usually have cold roast beef and cold turkey breast with a couple of filling salads and a couple of light ones. I discovered that many people were tired of the everyday potato salad and I always had some left. As potato salad soesn´t age well, I switched to pasta salads and started to experiment on several additions. I use olives and raw diced peppers of al posible colors, I live some diced onions with minced cilantro leaves. Do you make pasta salads? How often? What ingredients do you add? Share!
3 people like this
11 responses
@daeckardt (6237)
• United States
16 May 11
Actually, I have never cared for either potato or pasta salads. Or anything else that contains mayonnaise. My mom always made potato salads because my dad liked it, but I didn't like cold potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, or the mayonnaise. Later, when my brother's wife started making it there were also pickles in it. I didn't care for cold pasta either, although sometimes I could tolerate it if it had something like Italian dressing instead of mayo. I guess I was always a little to picky when it comes to eating.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (223720)
• Chile
17 May 11
I make a kind of potato salad with no mayo for one of my gradchildren. It´s potatoes (I cut them up while warm and put olive oil and a bit of lemon juice) and minced parsley. It´s a lot more healthy that the moyo type we all know and if there are leftovers, I sautee them as a side dish or use them in a tortilla (sort of omelette).
1 person likes this
@daeckardt (6237)
• United States
18 May 11
That sounds really good compared to what my mom made. My parents often forced me to eat at least some of what they made and it always grossed me out. Is it served warm or cold? With potatoes, I have always preferred that they were warm.
@marguicha (223720)
• Chile
16 Nov 11
Sorry I didn´t answer before, Deb. I always add the oil while the potatoes are still warm so it soaks a bit. I serve potato salads at room temperature but when I use mayo, I put the mayo at the end. Usually it´s homemade mayo too.
1 person likes this
@yoyo1198 (3641)
• United States
12 May 11
I love pasta salads. Fresh broccoli florets and cauliflower and mushrooms are good add-ins. Also frozen peas (thawed) and some purple onion rings. Green bell peppers sliced thinly and shredded carrots go well too. Sometimes I'll add thin small tomato strips but just the meat of the tomato to keep the juices out.
Toss it all with a nice balsamic vinegar based dressing and it's a meal in itself.
1 person likes this
@alottodo (3056)
• Australia
14 May 11
We love our pasta salad in my home I just make it with sliced capsicums...red n green...red onions...sun dried tomatoes and a balsamic vinegar dressing with olive oil and some lemon juice. But then it all depends I may skip that dressing and just put mayonnaise! I some times add some hard boiled eggs to it...or steamed vegies like broccoli...peas. or what ever is there! to me pasta salad is a very versatile salad one can put any thing into it and it works all the time!
@marguicha (223720)
• Chile
14 May 11
I think I will try your recipe today as I have all the ingredients. Thanks for sharing. I´ll skip balsamic vinegar though as I only use it for few salads because I find it smothers other tastes.
@catdla1 (6005)
• United States
12 May 11
Pasta salad always seems to go faster than potato salad, at least at my house. I usually end up frying up leftover potato salad into home fries.
For potato salad, I use the standard vegetables: onions, peppers and parsley or cilantro. I like to use different varieties of peppers and onions for interest. Sometimes I add peas or other chopped veggies, too.
I also make it a little different than others do. Most salt the pasta water, then add more after the pasta, dressing and veggies are tossed together. What I do is chop the veggies and add a bit of salt to them, letting them sit at room temperature until the pasta is ready. What this does is bleed the water (and flavor) out of them, which in turn is absorbed into the pasta once they are mixed together. I find that doing this reduces the amount of salt needed, as well as using less dressing...while making a more flavorful salad. If you try this, let me know what you think.
If there's leftover pasta salad, it's easy to make a meal out of it by adding chopped chicken, turkey, ham or tuna.
1 person likes this
@catdla1 (6005)
• United States
12 May 11
I've never steamed my veggies for pasta salad. I just chop them raw, then sprinkle with a bit of salt and let it sit for a while. The moisture that 'sweats' out combines the flavors from them. Once the pasta is cooked and drained, then I add the veggies, including the bit of water that has sweat out.
Never thought about steaming veggies for the salad. Is that how you usually make it?
@marguicha (223720)
• Chile
12 May 11
I was thinking on the kind of veggies you don´t eat raw, such as green beans and the like. But peppers (several colors if possible), onions, cucumbers and even zuchinni don´t have to be cooked.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (223720)
• Chile
12 May 11
So you put the veggies in a colander and then use that water? Am I understanding this well? What I do with the veggies is to steam them. But the water under them gets the flavor. Could I use that water for the pasta?
1 person likes this
@jahernandezrivas (11288)
• United States
12 May 11
I love pasta salads but I have only made one and it has been maybe 3 years ago! I hardly ever make those but it does sound good!!!!
@marguicha (223720)
• Chile
12 May 11
It is one of those things that are easy to make so it could be one of the meals you need when you want to do other thinks but housechores
@hardworkinggurl (37063)
• United States
12 May 11
Yes I love pasta anything really. For an earlier lunch I had Rotini Primavera with some olive oil, dices onions and peppers. I also added a little of Basil Pesto and voila a quick simple easy lunch.
I have made some cold macaroni pasta salad by adding most of the potato salad ingredients you mentioned with out the potato but do like to add diced ham and usually all who have eaten it love it.
1 person likes this
@marguicha (223720)
• Chile
12 May 11
I freeze basil pesto to last the whole year as everyone loves it. So it would be a good idea to use it for a pasta salad. I´ve never done it.
@sweetgirl_k1 (3972)
• United States
12 May 11
Yes, I do make pasta salads a lot when it gets warm outside. I do mayonnaise pasta salads and pasta salads with dressings like italian dressing. I made a pasta salad last week that had the noodles, diced cucumber, diced celery, and tomatoes and italian dressing in it. It was really good.
@marguicha (223720)
• Chile
12 May 11
I have a friend there and he says he hates to cook in Summer. These salads are ok as pasta doe not requir much cooking. Tabule is another good idea for a filling Summer salad.
@MommaOfAllTrades (969)
• Canada
12 May 11
A family favourite here that doesn't get old is my pasta salad. As for veggies, I add whatever I have on hand (celery, carrots, peppers, onions), cheese, gerkin pickles and instead of a creamy base salad dressing, I reach for Catalina. The kids LOVE it.
I've also used Italian salad dressing on rice with broccoli which keeps very well.
Bon apetit!
@marguicha (223720)
• Chile
12 May 11
Do you use the broccoli raw, cooked al dente or very cooked? I like it raw or almost raw. I don´t know what is Catalina dressing. What ingredients does it have?
@marguicha (223720)
• Chile
12 May 11
I make rice salad, but for more people I prefer pasta salad and tabule.