Pasta salad is always a bit hit in the summer time. Pasta is so versatile and the best thing is you can prepare it the day before, which is best so all the flavors come together.
Growing up, Pasta salad was always a staple in my home. However, Mother was not very adventurous when making pasta salad. Her salad consisted of, Elbow macaroni, onions, and mayo. Not so flavorful and not very inspired. So as I begin to make pasta salad, I would throw in all kinds of stuff, and use various salad dressing we had on hand. Now I must say some of my creations were pretty darn good, others not so much. Now there was nothing really wrong with moms salad, but I wanted more.
When my June issue of the Food Network Magazine came, I was so so excited to see on the cover "Pasta Salad Create Your Own!"
On page 79 it had ideas for you to "Mix and Match". The proteins suggested were some I have always used, however Baked Totu is one that I am quite sure I will not use in my pasta salad.
One of the veggies they suggested was green beans and canned chickpeas. Interesting.....
After reading and deciding what salad I was going to prepare, off to the store I went to get my ingredients. Here is my Pasta Salad recipe:
Wagon wheel pasta. Cook in very salty water. Think of the sea. And don't over cook!
Lump Crap meat.
Roasted corn kernels. Love the roasted flavor it gives this salad.
English cucumber, diced
Red onion, diced. If you refer you can use shallots.
Asparagus, blanched & chopped. This give a nice flavor and crunch to the salad
Sun-dried tomatoes, chopped.
My dressing was:
Mayo, about 1/3 cup
Sour cream about 3-4 Tablespoons
Lemon Juice. 1 to 1/2 tablespoons
Garlic - 3 small cloves roasted then pressed.
Herbs - Fresh, chopped. I used, thyme, rosemary, dill and basil.
I also added some olive oil as the dressing was a bit too thick for my liking.
These measurments are not set in stone. I always start small and increase if need be. I am light on the salt and lemon juice. I added garlic as I like the flavor it gives. You can always add more but you can't take away.
I let this sit for a awhile to get all the flavors blended.
Salad was a big hit! So go out and get the June issue of Food Network magazine and get inspired!
Until next post; may all your dishes be flavorful, and prepared with love!
Photo by Kang Kim
