Have you ever been to a potluck supper where someone didn’t bring a pasta salad? A well-made pasta salad is the perfect accompaniment to almost any main course and can even stand on its own. Unfortunately, many people don’t know how to make a pasta salad “well-made.” Too often, we suffer through mushy, over-cooked pasta with watery dressing, all while smiling and pretending to enjoy it. This is the ‘social’ aspect of potluck suppers: we eat stuff we wouldn’t touch at home.
The key to a good pasta salad, as the name suggests, is correctly cooked pasta. The first step is carefully selecting your pasta. While making your own is the best option, that’s a topic for another article. Here, we’ll focus on commercially-made pasta. There are basically three types of commercial pasta: Teflon-Rolled (Extruded), Bronze-Rolled (Extruded), and Whole Wheat (so-called). Teflon-Rolled pasta is the standard ‘bargain’ pasta most of us are familiar with. The rollers used to make it are Teflon-coated to prevent sticking. This pasta is usually medium-golden, with a smooth surface, and is very brittle. It’s edible, but not particularly enjoyable. The smooth surface doesn’t allow sauces or dressing to stick, and it’s easy to overcook. The window for perfectly cooked Teflon-Rolled pasta is only about 1-1/2 minutes.
Bronze-Rolled pasta is the ‘premium’ type, found at better grocery stores and specialty shops. It’s made using solid bronze rollers coated with vegetable oil. This pasta has a rough textured surface, is lighter gold in color than Teflon-Rolled, and is softer to the touch. It also has plenty of pores for sauce and dressing to stick to. Bronze-Rolled pasta is more forgiving with cooking times, offering a 2 to 3-minute window before it’s overcooked.
Whole wheat pasta is not as nutritious as you might think. It’s essentially Teflon-Rolled pasta with some husk added back in to make it brown. It often has a ‘knobby’ texture because the husks are not milled finely enough. Plus, even if it claims to be 100% whole wheat, it’s not entirely accurate. For pasta that will stand up to your salad, stick with Bronze-Rolled pasta for the best results.
The Cooking Process
Now that we’ve chosen our pasta, we need to cook it properly. This is where many pasta dishes go wrong. There are varying opinions on the best way to cook pasta, but it largely depends on how you plan to use it. Regardless of your method, make sure you have all your salad ingredients ready before you start cooking the pasta. Chop the veggies, prepare your dressing, and complete any other prep work in advance.
For salads, here’s the best method. First, understand what correctly cooked pasta should look, feel, and taste like. Under-cooked pasta is still somewhat stiff and tastes a little “raw.” The telltale sign is a whitish, powdery ring in the center when you cut it in half. Overcooked pasta, on the other hand, is soft, limp, and has a mushy mouth-feel. If this happens, throw it away or give it to the dog. Perfect pasta will be “al dente,” meaning it’s still firm, springy, and lively.
Another key point: use the largest, tallest pot you have. There is no such thing as ‘too much water’ for cooking pasta. The pasta needs room to roll around in the water to cook evenly. If the pasta sticks to the bottom of the pot or clumps together, you used too little water. Be sure to add a generous amount of salt—at least 2 tablespoons. This helps the pasta absorb water more quickly and also toughens the exterior so it cooks evenly.
Now, let’s address the question of whether to add oil to the water. The majority of cooks don’t understand that adding oil doesn’t prevent the pasta from sticking together. Oil floats on the water’s surface and doesn’t mix with the food. What oil does is prevent starch from foaming up and causing a boil-over. So, don’t waste expensive olive oil—any vegetable oil will do.
Once the water is at a rolling boil, add the pasta. It needs to be at maximum temperature when the pasta enters so the outside cooks quickly and seals in the inside. Keep the heat on high to quickly bring the water back to the boil if it cools when you add the pasta. Stir the pasta occasionally during cooking to ensure even cooking. Depending on the shape, type, and thickness of the pasta, it will cook in 6-8 minutes. Start tasting it at around 4-5 minutes and check frequently.
The Final Steps
When the pasta is almost done, remove it about 1 minute before you think it’s ready. It will continue to cook as it cools. However, for pasta salad, it’s crucial not to add your raw salad ingredients to hot pasta. Adding hot pasta to fresh veggies, such as onions, celery, or tomatoes, will cook them and ruin your salad. For a pasta salad, cook the pasta until it’s “al dente,” drain it in a colander, and rinse it well with cold water to stop the cooking process. Rinse it until the pasta is completely cold. You can use your hands to toss the pasta under the water and make sure it’s cooled all the way through.
This step is the only time I recommend rinsing pasta. If you let it cool on its own, it will dry out quickly and lose its flavor and texture. Tossing it with olive oil would keep it from drying, but it will also make the pasta too slick for the dressing to stick, leaving a pool of dressing at the bottom of the bowl. Rinsing with cold water is essential for the perfect salad.
Once the pasta is cold, transfer it to a large mixing bowl and add the rest of your ingredients. Don’t be afraid to get creative with the ingredients and dressing. Toss everything together thoroughly and allow the salad to chill, covered, in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours before serving. This allows the flavors to develop. Keep the salad chilled as much as possible until it’s time to serve.
Here’s a Few Suggestions for Pasta Salad Ingredients
Try to keep your ingredients consistent with the style you’re aiming for. If you want an oriental-style salad, use ingredients like baby corn, snow pea pods, and water chestnuts. For a Mediterranean, Greek, or Italian-style salad, go for cut green beans, Roma tomatoes, Feta cheese, and black/green olives (cut back on salt when using green olives, as they are very salty). Keep your salad true to its theme.
Be sure to cool any cooked vegetables, such as steamed broccoli, cauliflower, and asparagus, before adding them to the salad to prevent them from cooking the other ingredients.
Canned ingredients, such as peas, SPAM, cooked mushrooms, French-cut green beans, olives, anchovies, or canned shrimp, chicken, tuna, or salmon, are all fine to use right from the can.
When making your dressing, ensure it’s fully emulsified, especially when using vinegars. Otherwise, the pasta will absorb the vinegar while the oil will just sit on the outside of the pasta. Use a mild vinegar, like rice wine vinegar. Stronger vinegars, such as malt, apple cider, or white vinegar, will strip the bright colors from your vegetables and pickle them, making the salad look dull and taste unpleasant. Balsamic vinegar, though delicious, will turn the pasta a brownish color, so it’s best avoided.
The taste experience is made up of three parts: the initial taste, the secondary taste, and the finish. You control this balance with the proportions of each flavor. For an Italian flavor profile, fresh vegetables like tomatoes and green peppers should dominate the initial taste, followed by the flavor of onions, garlic, and pasta. The finish can be mild, with a touch of basil, oregano, or a kiss of rosemary. For a Ham and Pea Pasta Salad, the initial flavor should be country ham (or SPAM/Treat), followed by the creamy sweetness of green peas, and a rustic buttermilk finish.
The dressing should be simple, such as a mild ranch, buttermilk, or plain mayonnaise. The general rule of thumb is 1 cup of dressing for every pound of uncooked pasta.
Your choices of ingredients and dressings are only limited by your creativity. Now that you know how to make pasta salad, you can tweak it to your tastes. You can either use a store-bought dressing or make your own. Here are two of my favorites:
Creamy Buttermilk Dressing
This dressing is perfect when you don’t want the dressing to overpower the main flavors. It makes about 2 cups, enough for 2 lbs of pasta and ingredients.
2/3 cup each of buttermilk, sour cream, and mayonnaise
¼ cup rice wine vinegar or lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, minced fine, or 2 teaspoons garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste
Mix all the ingredients together, making sure they’re well-blended. Use immediately. Optional: Add basil, oregano, and a pinch of rosemary for a creamy Italian twist.
Creamy Vinaigrette
1-1/3 cups olive oil
½ cup rice wine vinegar or lemon juice
1 tablespoon each of Dijon mustard and mayonnaise
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
Salt and pepper to taste
Blend all ingredients well, and use immediately. This recipe makes about 2 cups.
