Pasta Salad

[autowasherfreak]

I cooked too much spaghetti and not enough sauce and made a delicious pasta salad with the left over spaghetti

1 small can of sliced ripe olives
1 tomato diced
1 large green bell pepper chopped
1 medium onion chopped
about a half bottle of zesty Italian salad dressing
about a half cup or so of grated Parm. Cheese

Mix well and chill. Very refreshing on hot summer days. Any have a favorite pasta salad recipe?

 

[appnut]

I made a very simple one yesterday. (and has anybody else noticed that the former 1 lb. boxes of pasta are now like 13.25 oz?)

Just someting I threw together that I had on hand

1 box of whole wheat rotini past cooked aldente
3.5 cups of frozen green peas slightly cooked
1/2 finely chopped (minced) onion
Hellman's mayonaise to taste
pepper & cumin to taste
1 lb. cubed cooked turkey
Mix all together and chill.

With the string of 100+ degree days we've had since Monday, I really don't feel like eating hot food and a chilled pasta salad hits the spot.

 

[danemodsandy]

Redneck Church Supper Pasta Salad

- 1 box Kraft macaroni and cheese, prepared according to the package directions, then allowed to cool
- 4 ounces Cheddar - the sharper the better - coarsely grated
- 1 cup pimiento-stuffed green olives, drained and chopped
- 1 can diced tomatoes, drained
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- Pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients, blending well. Refrigerate overnight. Stir in a bit more mayo before serving if the salad seems to need it; the macaroni absorbs some of it when the salad is sitting in the fridge. Note: it's important to cool the macaroni and cheese before stirring in the Cheddar, so that the Cheddar doesn't melt and lose its identity.

Atrocious in concept, no good for you at all, and absolutely irresistible.

 

[maytagbear]

Bev's pasta salad

This was originally my friend Bev's, but I've tweaked her recipe some.

I think it's rather good.

1 box (13-16 ounces) elbow macaroni, cooked.

1 large mild onion (Bermuda, Vidalia, Maui---) diced small.

1 green bell pepper, seeded, membranes discarded, diced a little larger than the onions.

1 box cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in halves.

1 "pear" mozzaralla cheese, cubed small. Part skim is ok. Spray knife blade with Pam or similar, to reduce sticking.

1 packet Good Seasons Zesty Italian dressing mix, made with balsamic vinegar (Monari brand is good and cheap), and olive oil (I usually just use Pompeiian, or Bertolli for this).

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste.

1/2-3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated. (just cube and drop into the processor with the Steel Knife {s blade}).

Cook macaroni until soft, but not overdone, 7-9 minutes, testing every minute after 7. Drain. If slightly, and I mean slightly overcooked, rinsing in cold tap water will help.

Prepare everything else, and combine when macaroni is cool.

Cover and chill.

Makes: a lot.

Because of the cheese, this has to be kept chilled when not serving.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[autowasherfreak]

I hear you Bob, it's been pretty damn hot here too and a cold pasta salad or lettuce salad hits the spot. It finally cooled off here. Nice breeze, it's even comfortable with fans on.

 

[filter-flo_rob]

Dahm ... I love it when y'all post recipes! Sandy, that recipe sounds great. Thanks.

Of course, anything with olives in it has got to be good -- any colour, any style!

Rob.

 

[xraytech]

I just made pasta salad a few weeks ago, and my recipe makes ALOT of salad.

Pasta Salad

2 1/2 lbs tri color springs
1 lb hard salami sliced thick and cut into cubes
1 lb sandwich pepperoni sliced thick and cut into cubes
1 lb colby jack cheese cut into cubes
1/2 lb swiss or munster cheese cut into cubes
2 cans of medium black olives
1 jar pimento stuffed green olives
2 cucumbers diced small
1 large yellow or red onion diced small
3/4 -1 cup salad supreme
approx 1/2 gallon italian dressing

Cook noodles according to directions, drain, and lightly rinse. While still warm mix in 1/2 of the dressing and all of the salad supreme until it takes on a nice dark orange color.Stir remaining dressing after the first half has been mostly absorbed by pasta. Add the salami, pepperoni, olives, cucumber, and onion, stir until well mixed and then add in the cheese cubes and stir.

I love this salad when it is still warm right after mixing it up, but also great after being in the fridge.

After being in the fridge and setting you may need to add some more dressing so salad is not dry

 

[appnut]

Well Jim, as iof today it's been 14 days with 100+ temps. I made the slightly different version yesterday with whole wheat Penne, cubed ham, a mixture of mayo & ranch dressing, and italian season as the differentiator from the above recipe.

 

[whirlcool]

Here is my contribution to the Pasta Salad.
This is Tortellini Salad. It's wonderful. I first had it in a San Francisco restuarant and I "reverse" engineered it.

Tortellini Salad

1-Pkg White Tortellini with Italian Sausage or Meat, NO OTHER
FLAVOR WILL WORK.
4-Large Fresh White Mushrooms, Sliced
6-Green Onions, Sliced
1/4 Cup finely Diced Red Onion
1-2 oz jar Pimentos
1 Teaspoon Dill Weed
1/2 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
2 Finely Chopped Garlic Clove Petals
1 Hard Boiled Egg, Chopped
Fresh Spinach Leaves
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil
White Vinegar

In a large pot, add water and 1 tablespoon Olive Oil.
Bring to a boil and add Tortellini. Boil till just
tender, about 5 min, stirring occasionally. Make sure
the Tortellini does not get too mushy. Remove from heat
and drain. Rinse with cold water and place in bowl,
cover with cold water and refrigerate for several hours.

Drain water from Tortellini and place in a mixing bowl.
Add sliced Mushrooms, Onions, Pimentos, Garlic Powder and
hard boiled Egg. Toss gently and chill before serving.

NOTE: I tried this recently with a four cheese tortellini and the results were just terrible. Almost inedible.

 

[favorit]

Tortellini salad ?!?

Filled pasta (tortellini, ravioli, agnolotti and so on ) has to be eaten when hot, otherwise the filling gets hard and disgusting, expecially if cheese-based - see note in the previous post

BTW what's the italian dressing ? I suspect it has nothing to do with Italy ...

 

[favorit]

egg based pasta

again - it's not only a filling matter - filled pasta usually is made with flour and eggs. Egg based pasta gets chewy when cold

 

[maytagbear]

"Italian" salad dressing

here in the States is a fairly garlic intensive, highly seasoned vinaigrette. Often has noticeable oregano, black pepper, bell pepper, and is either fairly decent or dreadful.

Premade -bottled is almost never made with olive oil, but cheaper oils like cottonseed or canola.

I doubt if Italian Italians would care for it much.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[veroroger]

Following is receipe my Mom used for a highly seasoned pasta salad based on a receipe from a box of Cremette brand elbow macaroni from back in the early '50's. All the neighbors had a version of this and I only knew pasta salad as Cremette salad. I still remember, after moving away, having pasta salad and being disappointed in how bland it was.

1# elbow macaroni
6 hard boiled eggs, sliced
1 small bag radishes, sliced thin
4 to 6 ribs celery, sliced thin
2 to 3 bunches green onions, sliced including green tops
1 large green pepper, chopped roughly
1 10 oz jar pimento stuffed olives (queen sized) sliced or chopped (note: save juice)

Sauce:
3 cups mayo (NOT salad dressing, NOT low fat, the real stuff!)
1-1/2 cups yellow mustard (I only use French's for this)
1/2 cup olive juice
1/2 cup beer
1 tablespoon salt (or to taste)
1 tablespoon pepper (or to taste)
This will make a somewhat thin sauce but it will be absorbed by the hot macaroni better than a thicker sauce. It will thicken in the refrigerator.

Boil eggs and allow to cool. Peel and slice. Prepare all veggies for receipe. THEN begin cooking elbow macaroni. Only cook to aldente state, then drain.
While macaroni is cooking, prepare sauce: mix together all ingredients and taste. It should have a very strong/bitter taste with definate olive and beer taste as well as being very salty to the tongue. If not, add more olive juice or beer or salt/pepper.
Add other ingredients to hot macaroni and then add sauce and mix. And mix. And mix. You have to mix this for at least 5 minutes to insure a complete mixture. Cool in refrigerator till cold and serve as a side or line plate with lettuce leaves, serve as main course with side of sliced tomatoes and good French or Italian bread.
NOTE: the beer is optional and salad will be very good without but will have a somewhat blander taste.

This makes quite a large amount of salad and I've never been able to halve the receipe and have it turn out. But, I've never had any left over either!

Roger

 

[whirlcool]

Actually the Tortellini is quite soft. It's not mushy and it has some body to it.
Whoops, I forgot to mention that you have to combine the oil & vinegar to make the dressing which is added when the salad is tossed.

 

[appnut]

Wish Id not let the other recipe threads die off :-(