Love how versatile pasta salad is perfect with whatever’s in the fridge
What do you usually like with your pasta? Or do you have a different favorite way?
by zahrashahbar177
6 Comments
Bnu98
this is our go to pasta salad in summer in my house; finely dice garlic, put it in the mixing bowl and cover with oil straight away (vip so it doesnt oxedize and starts flavouring the oil)
a splash of a sweet or mild vinegar (red or apple cider or lemon juice usually) finely dice a big handful of basil, mint, parsley and mix it into the oil and acid mix (same reasons) Boil your pasta and run it under cold water before adding it to the bowl. To see if your pasta is cooked cool it down under running water to try; cool pasta firms up a lot but also differently, and you 100% need a nice springy al dente bite for pasta salad
then add diced as needed: sundried tomatoes jared artichokes olives sweet corn (optional) cucumber bellpeppers Dried gbjeniet (a maltese sheeps/goats cheese, the dried 1s are p firm and salty; when we dont have we just use fetta and it works well, just goes a bit mushy after a bit so make those chunks a bit bigger then you want in the end) cherry tomatoes or big “tadam catt” (I think in the US they’re called herloom? the big bumpy “flat” ones) Parmegian / Grana Padano (grana is cheaper here but a bit milder; cut into flat ish long pieces that can break as you mix. If you use a cheese as salty and strong as fetta thoug, I would leave this out) and pepper+salt (more salt then you’d expect with both parm and fetta in it) you need more salt then you’d expect. Mix it all together and leave it at least a few hours in the fridge before eating. And try to shape the cuts of your veggies to half the shape of the pasta, so with penne, relativley long thin pieces but still shorted then the penne. We usually use cavatappi rigatte (the curly tube one) for that little cube / odd shapes is best to hook into the spirals a bit.
An “odd” exclusion here is capers, goes with the other jared things well and is a classic maltese pairing (artichoke olives sundried tomatoes and capers). But they’re a bit to harsh for this where everything is a bit milder. We save that combo for our rice salad then where the vinegry briney kick balances tinned tuna well.
Obv this is a v flexible do whatever you have recipe, but the big take aways are covering the aromatics in oil, and acid straight away, the attaining a cold “al dente” and the basil mint parsley combo which is so quintisentially maltese. the herb ratio should be about 2:2:1 with parsley as the 1 ’cause its the strongest most diff flavour from the 3. (at least here in malta where parsley grows wild). And raw garlic is strong and gets stronger the longer it sits in the fridge for (more then gets stronger, permiates the dish harder) so conservitivley 1-2 cloves for 500g of pasta.
I’ve done a pile of other pasta salads with pesto, tomato sauce etc as the base, adding in meats, beans etc. All were ok to great, but this is the one we love and come back to every summer; we make it in 3-4kg of pasta bulks to host friends, and it lasts just shy of a week in the fridge while maintining its quality.
Sry I don’t have quantities for the other things, its all by feel, been making it with my mum and nanna since I was tiny. Also we would never make this in winter, not ’cause cold icky in winter, but because the fresh components (herbs and tomatoes) are all green house in winter and have much less flavour, it just isnt worth it for us. (though we have the privelidge of being in the med)
the901Skinny
Cucumber cubed cheddar black olives. Sometime tomato. A little grated parm. Of course Italian dressing and a lil red wine vinegar
MoccaLG
ok now i am interested
PrimAndProper69
r/pasta 🤝 r/salad
For me red bell pepper is obligatory !
TemporaryDeparture44
I usually do fusili or penne with whatever cured meat (salami, soppressata usually), cucumbers (or bell pepper), tomatoes, mozzarella cheese chunks, red onion, kalamata olives, sometimes banana peppers. Toss with salt, olive oil, red wine vinegar, oregano. The only thing I don’t have on hand pretty much 100% of the time is the cucumbers.
6 Comments
this is our go to pasta salad in summer in my house;
finely dice garlic, put it in the mixing bowl and cover with oil straight away (vip so it doesnt oxedize and starts flavouring the oil)
a splash of a sweet or mild vinegar (red or apple cider or lemon juice usually)
finely dice a big handful of basil, mint, parsley and mix it into the oil and acid mix (same reasons)
Boil your pasta and run it under cold water before adding it to the bowl. To see if your pasta is cooked cool it down under running water to try; cool pasta firms up a lot but also differently, and you 100% need a nice springy al dente bite for pasta salad
then add diced as needed:
sundried tomatoes
jared artichokes
olives
sweet corn (optional)
cucumber
bellpeppers
Dried gbjeniet (a maltese sheeps/goats cheese, the dried 1s are p firm and salty; when we dont have we just use fetta and it works well, just goes a bit mushy after a bit so make those chunks a bit bigger then you want in the end)
cherry tomatoes or big “tadam catt” (I think in the US they’re called herloom? the big bumpy “flat” ones)
Parmegian / Grana Padano (grana is cheaper here but a bit milder; cut into flat ish long pieces that can break as you mix. If you use a cheese as salty and strong as fetta thoug, I would leave this out)
and pepper+salt (more salt then you’d expect with both parm and fetta in it)
you need more salt then you’d expect.
Mix it all together and leave it at least a few hours in the fridge before eating. And try to shape the cuts of your veggies to half the shape of the pasta, so with penne, relativley long thin pieces but still shorted then the penne. We usually use cavatappi rigatte (the curly tube one) for that little cube / odd shapes is best to hook into the spirals a bit.
An “odd” exclusion here is capers, goes with the other jared things well and is a classic maltese pairing (artichoke olives sundried tomatoes and capers). But they’re a bit to harsh for this where everything is a bit milder. We save that combo for our rice salad then where the vinegry briney kick balances tinned tuna well.
Obv this is a v flexible do whatever you have recipe, but the big take aways are covering the aromatics in oil, and acid straight away, the attaining a cold “al dente” and the basil mint parsley combo which is so quintisentially maltese. the herb ratio should be about 2:2:1 with parsley as the 1 ’cause its the strongest most diff flavour from the 3. (at least here in malta where parsley grows wild). And raw garlic is strong and gets stronger the longer it sits in the fridge for (more then gets stronger, permiates the dish harder) so conservitivley 1-2 cloves for 500g of pasta.
I’ve done a pile of other pasta salads with pesto, tomato sauce etc as the base, adding in meats, beans etc. All were ok to great, but this is the one we love and come back to every summer; we make it in 3-4kg of pasta bulks to host friends, and it lasts just shy of a week in the fridge while maintining its quality.
Sry I don’t have quantities for the other things, its all by feel, been making it with my mum and nanna since I was tiny. Also we would never make this in winter, not ’cause cold icky in winter, but because the fresh components (herbs and tomatoes) are all green house in winter and have much less flavour, it just isnt worth it for us. (though we have the privelidge of being in the med)
Cucumber cubed cheddar black olives. Sometime tomato. A little grated parm. Of course Italian dressing and a lil red wine vinegar
ok now i am interested
r/pasta 🤝 r/salad
For me red bell pepper is obligatory !
I usually do fusili or penne with whatever cured meat (salami, soppressata usually), cucumbers (or bell pepper), tomatoes, mozzarella cheese chunks, red onion, kalamata olives, sometimes banana peppers. Toss with salt, olive oil, red wine vinegar, oregano. The only thing I don’t have on hand pretty much 100% of the time is the cucumbers.
Lovely. I cant stop eating in stuff like this.