simple recipe for pasta salad??

Question

what's a simple recipe for pasta salad?
thanks

Answer 1

The simplest: Chop your choice of fresh and pickled vegetables from the list below, then add to cooked and drained "shaped" pasta (penne, ziti, farfalle, etc.) Add Italian dressing (or olive oil and red wine vinegar, plus some dried herbs) and grated parmesan cheese.

The best thing about pasta salad -- you can just keep adding things till it looks right and the overall flavor is good, just take out a piece of the pasta every so often and see if the flavors all go together. It's really a "make it up as you go" kind of dish.

Some good fresh vegetables to add -- choose some or all of these:

Sliced mushrooms
Red bell pepper (diced into 1/2" chunks)
Red onion (diced into 1/2" chunks)
Fennel (diced into 1/2" chunks)
Peas
Italian parsley or basil leaves (coarsely chopped)
Garlic (crushed or finely minced)

Some good pickled/canned vegetables to add:

Cannelini beans (white kidney beans)
Artichoke hearts
Marinated mushrooms
Olives (green or black)
Baby corn
Pickled peppers (spicy or sweet)

Good dried herbs/spices to add (choose some or all):

Oregano
Basil
Thyme
Tarragon
Crushed red pepper
Black pepper
Salt

That's all there is to it. Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package, add the ingredients and dressing, and let it rest for about half an hour before serving it so that the flavors all sink into the pasta. (Do stir it up before you put it on their plates!)

Answer 2

Garden Pasta Salad

1 (16 ounce) package uncooked tri-color spiral pasta
1/2 cup thinly sliced carrots
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped yellow bell pepper
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1 (16-ounce) bottle Italian-style salad dressing
1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Cook pasta in large pot of boiling water until al dente. Rinse under cold water, and drain.

Mix carrots, celery, peppers, tomatoes, and green onion together in large bowl. Add the cooled pasta and mix together. Pour the dressing over mixture, add the Parmesan and mix well.
Chill before serving.

Answer 3

--cook and drain the pasta of your chioce until al dente. This keeps the pasta from getting gummy after adding the rest of the stuff.
--run under cool water and drain again to stop the cooking.
--add Kraft Italian Dressing--amount you add depends on the amount of pasta and your preferance to how much liquid you like. Start out by adding less---the pasta will soak some up. You can always add more later.
--dice red & green peppers and a vidalia onion and add to the pasta & dressing mix. If you like, you can also dice fresh mushrooms and/or olives and add to it.
--you can add Italian seasoning, basil or tyme if you prefer, but I find that the dressing gives it a good flavor by itself.
--stir well to coat all ingredients
--refrigerate for 1-2 hours to chill and allow the dressing to marinate into the pasta.
--before serving, sprinkle with grated parmesean cheese.
--ENJOY!!!

Answer 4

I'm not sure how simple you will think this is, but it is pretty easy:

Cook macaroni or any other pasta you like.
Cool
Drain and add a can of black beans
Drain and add a can of corn
Chop up red and green peppers
Toss in some shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Mix with just enough ranch dressing to hold it together
If you like things spicy, add a little tabasco!

Answer 5

Best Chicken Pasta Salad

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
3/4 cup steak sauce
1 (12 ounce) package fusilli pasta
2 cubes chicken bouillon
1 Vidalia onion, diced
2 avocados - peeled, pitted and diced
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
1 cup Ranch-style salad dressing
DIRECTIONS
Preheat an outdoor grill for high heat. Place breasts into a glass baking dish and marinate in steak sauce for 15 to 60 minutes.
Grill chicken until no longer pink and the juices run clear. Remove from grill, and chop into bite-size pieces.
To a large pot of boiling water, add bouillon cubes and pasta. Cook pasta until al dente. Drain, and rinse under cold water.
In a large bowl, combine chicken, pasta, onion, avocados and tomatoes. Mix in salad dressing, cover, and refrigerate until chilled.

Answer 6

Make Over 200 Juicy, Mouth-Watering Paleo Recipes You've NEVER Seen or Tasted Before?

Answer 7

Cook multi-colored pasta
Drain
Stir in Zesty Italian salad dressing to taste
Chill
Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on pasta right before serving.

If that's too simple add some sliced up black olives and chopped up green and red peppers.

Another one is:

Cook multi colored Pasta
Drain
Add Ranch salad dressing to taste
Add cooked peas
Add Bacon bits ( I prefer real cooked bacon cut into bits)
Chill
Sprinkle with parmesan cheese right before serving.

Answer 8

As simple as it comes:

Pasta and Pesto.

Cook the pasta. It can be tossed either warm or cold with ready made pesto.

For more color -- add sun dried tomatoes.

Answer 9

go to allrecipes.com they have tons of recipes. I'm sure there is a simple recipe for Pasta Salad.

Answer 10

1 lb tricolored rotini/spiral pasta
1/2 to 1 cup cubed cheese of your choice
small can olives of your choice, drained
small pkg of sundried tomatoes
small pkg spiced salami or pepperoni
16 oz bottle prepared Italian dressing with olive oil base
large handful of grape or cherry tomatoes


Cooked pasta al dente according to package directions, but no more than 6-8 minutes once water comes to full boil after adding pasta. I like Barilla pasta, but use whatever you have. Use a very large pot so that pasta has plenty of room to move as it cooks. Rinse with COLD water when using colander to strain.

After straining, put in very large bowl, so that there will be plenty of room to mix and toss all the ingredients. A 10 or 12 cup bowl or very large mixing bowl, like the kind you use to make bread or make double batches of cookie dough, will work. Use wooden or plastic utensils to stir and mix ingredients gently, as metal ones will chop up pasta into little bits.

Snip, with kitchen or food safe scissors, about half the packaged sundried tomatoes into small bits or pieces and place in bowl with pasta. Stir.

Add cubes of cheese, such as jalapeno pepper cheese or pepper jack, sliced pepperoni or salami (about half the package), chopped black olives (half the can or container) and halved cherry or grape tomatoes and mix well.

If you like Greek food, use feta cubes or chunks and kalamata olives. If you like ham, use cubed ham instead of chopped salami but use mozzarella cubes instead of pepper cheese, etc.

Pour a prepared Italian dressing that contains a good quality olive oil base, such as a Marzetti, Ken's Steak House or Newman's brand traditional or house Italian, over all and mix well. These are usually 16 oz bottles.

Add plenty so that the pasta can absorb it and allow the sundried tomatoes to rehydrate. You may add half of it, then see if it needs more. It will need imore after half an hour of sitting, but you may not need all of the bottle.

Allow to mellow or set in fridge for at least 1 hour and serve. I like mine at room temp, so I refrigerate it overnite, then get it out about 1 hour before serving it, but if you've used soft cheeses such as mozzarella or feta, you need to keep it chilled to prevent spoiling and "melting" or softening of cheese.

Can be doubled.

Colorful and tasty.

Options: Use roma or plum tomatoes instead of grape or cherry tomatoes; use your own homemade dressing of olive oil, wine or balsamic vinegar and seasonings; rehydrate the sundried tomatoes first before adding or use flavored (herbed, basil etc)sundried tomatoes rather than standard ones.