I recall one year our church signed up to take a meal to the Salvation Army once a month. We rotated groups for what I considered to be a privilege. When it was our Sunday School class’s turn, we decided on a big ham, green beans flavored with fat back, mac and cheese, rolls and homemade chocolate chip cookies. The ham and beans were both delicious, but when folks came back for seconds, it was the mac and cheese – the pasta – they wanted more of.
Pasta is just plain good. Even a basic pasta with just a little olive oil is delicious, and it certainly lends itself to salads.
A pasta salad has become one of my go-to sides and it’s fun to prepare because there is no limit to the combinations you can use,
I hate to even give a recipe because I believe stay-at-home chefs should use their imaginations – and whatever they have in their refrigerators at the time. But here is a basic pasta salad I have been preparing.
First, I don’t think it matters one whit which pasta you use – shells, elbow macaroni, penne or whatever. But farfalle, bow-tie pasta, is an interesting shape and seems to soak up lots of flavors that you may add.
I begin with a bow tie pasta cooked al dente, a little firm. My ingredients can include, but don’t always consist of, avocado, small chunks of cheddar cheese, cukes, celery, cherry tomatoes and Vidalia onion.
For the sauce, I use mostly mayonnaise, but add a squirt or two of ranch dressing and about 2 tablespoons of Caesar dressing, which gives the pasta a little kick.
You could also add a few slices of apple, some raisins, snow peas, maybe some yellow mustard, walnuts, or really, whatever you like. With a pasta salad, no matter what you use, it all seems to come together.
Pasta salad also goes well with most every entrée, including fish, pork and cookout foods, like dogs and burgers. Keep some extra pasta in the pantry and enjoy a refreshing salad, just like you want it.
Basic Farfalle Salad
1 box Farfalle (bow-tie) pasta
1 cup Mayo
3 T ranch dressing
2 T Caesar dressing
1 cuke diced
1 8 oz. pig of cheddar cheese chunks
3 stalks celery diced
8 oz. cherry tomatoes halved
1 avocado diced
Prepare at least an hour in advance and serve chilled