Any salad ideas for a party at the weekend?

Question

apart from the usual lettuce, toms & cucumber, something unusual & different, must include some sort of pasta please as have got a few people that will only eat pasta

Answer 1

Pasta salad:

Any pasta (but not spaghetti), green olives, black olives, chopped sundried tomatoes in oil, fresh basil (or basil pesto but make sure you don't have anyone with nut allergies as pesto contains pine nuts), a dash of balsamic vinegar, give it a good stir, add salt and pepper to taste, serve it up.

Carrot, ginger and raisin salad:
Grate a few small and sweet carrots into a bowl, shake ground ginger over it (not too much, add it gradually to see how it tastes) and some raisins, put some cider vinegar with a spoonful of honey dissolved in it over the whole lot and let it all stew in the fridge.

You could also try baby spinach leaves with black olives and feta cheese, just add balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

A variation on coleslaw is to shred your white cabbage, put a bit of red cabbage through it for colour, add some cumin seeds and fresh coriander, put some cider vinegar over it and give it good stir, then into the fridge for a few hours. Delicious and filling and no calories whatsoever.

Waldorf salad is simply walnuts, chopped sweet apples, seedless grapes (dark look nicer) and chopped celery mixed sprinkled with lemon juice (prevents the apple from going all brown and horrible) and with a light yoghurt dressing over it.

What you could also do too is simply shop vegetables like carrots, celery, peppers, broccoli, cauliflour into 'fingers' and put them in bowls so that people can 'dip' them. Dips can be guacamole (basically avocado and lemon juice, but look online for a recipe), Salsa (tinned tomator whizzed with fresh garlic, thyme and a little chili, couldn't be simpler), or tzatziki (plain yoghurt with grated cucumber, chopped garlic and maybe a little parsley for colour).

Tuna salad:

tinned tuna, chopped spring onions, a chopped clove of garlic, some paprika powder (a little shake), and some sweetcorn from a tin, and a little mayonnaise. You could also add pasta to this.

If you substitute the tuna for pasta, you have tasty pasta salad. You could also subsitute the tuna for lightly boiled and cooled potatoes for a potato salad.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

As for pasta salads you can do: 1)short pasta-farfalle or penne- with tuna, cherry tomatoes, sliced boiled eggs, sweet corn, salt pepper and extra virgin olive oil. 2) also short pasta with pesto sauce and Parmesan slices.
As for other impressive salads: 3)grated carrots, peeled orange in pieces assorted with a sauce made with olive oil, cinnamon, lemon and orange juice (equally). Add some fresh ground pepper as well. 4)baby spinach and ruccola, cherry tomatoes, yellow or orange peppers (the sweet ones), Parmesan slices, fresh ground pepper, (sea salt-after the vinegar so it won't come out too salty), olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Hope you like some of these. Don't be afraid of the carrot-orange one,it's better than you may think.

Answer 3

Gazpacho Pasta Salad........its yummmmmy!!!!

INGREDIENTS

* 1/2 pound rotelle pasta
* 4 green onions, chopped
* 1 cup chopped green bell pepper
* 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
* 2 tomatoes, chopped
* 1 cucumber
* 1/4 cup olive oil
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 clove garlic, crushed
* 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
* 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 6 fluid ounces tomato juice

DIRECTIONS

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
2. In large bowl combine pasta, onion, bell pepper, jalapeno, tomatoes, cucumber, oil, salt, garlic, lime juice, black pepper and tomato juice. Toss well and chill in refrigerator for 2 hours. Toss again before serving.

Answer 4

Orzo Spinach Salad!

1 cup of orzo, boiled
1/2 package of fresh spinach, chopped
A couple chopped green onions
Maybe some chopped sun-dried tomatoes
Toasted pine nuts
Feta
(Any other veggie you might want and like)
Lemon vinaigrette

For the vinaigrette, use about 1/2 cup olive oil, juice of 2 lemons, the zest off one of them, 1 spoonful garlic, a hearty pinch of dried oregano, salt and fresh ground pepper.

Toss it all with the warm drained pasta, and then add the cheese and nuts.

I love this salad. You can even add baby shrimp to it.

Answer 5

Fettucini - broken in half and cooked to al dente

Toss with : olive oil - not to dripping, but a good coat, two cloves crushed or minced garlic and 3 tsp dry or two or three tablespoons fresh (sweet) basil, salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Then: gently add a ripe tomato (or two) - sliced, seeded, and chopped and a block (8 oz) and a half cubed cream cheese ( you will have to keep refrigerated until ready to cut)

Let chill and a few hours prior to serving to allow flavors to blend. If the pasta absorbs you olive oil, just add more prior to serving. The flavor will have infused throughout.

Answer 6

Sorry, don't know of any salad recipes with pasta but I've got a good one with rice. Ingredients: long grain rice, tuna, tomatoes, boiled eggs and mayonnaise to link it all together (preferably Hellmann's real). I never measure anything so wouldn't be able to tell you the quantities but I'd say as long as you can see the rice in between the tuna, eggs and tomoatoes, you've got it right.
Always very popular when I make it.

Another nice one, still without pasta, sorry: lettuce, bits of walnut, bits of golden apple, and bits of blue cheese (preferably French).

Answer 7

Italian Confetti Pasta Salad

INGREDIENTS
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
2 cups colored rotini pasta
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped yellow bell pepper
1/2 cup sliced black olives

DIRECTIONS
Cook pasta according to package directions. Rinse in cold water, and drain.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, vinegar, salt, black pepper, and garlic until well blended. Mix in basil. Add pasta, tomatoes, bell peppers, and olives; fold gently until mixed. Chill several hours. Stir gently before serving.

Answer 8

ok,
cook some orzo pasta according to directions. Add celery, scallions, Cucumber diced (with seeds removed) grape tomatoes cut in quarters (Feta Cheese optional) Fresh Dill and toss in a zesty italian dressing (good seasons) made with balsamic vinager or mustard vinagrette.
OR
Make spaghetti or Angel hair pasta. Julienne carrots, jicama, tomato chopped, scallions, napa cabbage and toss in a sesame ginger vinagrette.

Enjoy!

Answer 9

What I do is cook some spiral pasta cut up some red and yellow pepper into bitesize pieces add that in cut up some spring onions also add that in then get some french dressing and add some in so the pasta is coated well.

Answer 10

Cook the pasta - preferably shells, penne or macaroni. Allow to cool . Add chopped spring onions, chopped garlic;diced peppers, celery and pears. Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with lemon or lime juice and toss in extra virgin olive oil. Garnish with black olives and sesame seeds.

To pasta add the following: corn off the cob, finely sliced red chili, chunks of tinned tuna, sliced green olives seasoned with lemon or lime juice and salt and pepper. Sprinkle with olive oil and mix into the pasta just before serving. Garnish with pine nuts.