One of the greatest things about pasta as a food is its diversity. It's flexible in the way that you can buy it in so many different shapes and colors, then serve it with any kind of meat or vegetables and a variety of different sauces too. In addition, pasta doesn't have to just be served hot. Pasta salad is a great dish to serve at a buffet or as part of a summer barbecue along with grilled meats, vegetables and buttered bread.
Firstly you should know how to create the base ingredient: cold pasta. Luckily it's not hard! All you need to do is cook the pasta for as long as the packet suggests. Drain in a colander and place and cold running water for 2 to 3 minutes and drain again. Place the pasta in a bowl or casserole dish, mix in a glug or two of olive oil, season with salt and pepper and refrigerate until ready to serve.
It's very easy to create your own pasta salad recipe once you know what the right vegetables are that you should use. Consider that mushrooms, carrots, broccoli and cauliflower are not very nice cooked and then left to go cold, whereas courgettes, peppers and sweetcorn are. With pasta salad you can cook the past on its own, leave it to go cold and then add fresh vegetables that haven't been cooked afterwards. For instance, if you grow peas then a simple pasta salad with fresh peas and a light vinaigrette dressing gives a lovely fresh taste to go with cold meat. You could also use a variety of uncooked peppers to give your pasta salad a colorful look. Add mayonnaise, a few chopped tomatoes or even just some springs of parsley.
Tuna pasta bake is a meal that can either be eaten hot or cold. For this reason it's fantastic to make a huge lasagna dish full of it, eat a hot meal and then keep it for your lunch for the next day and the day after that. Simply cook your pasta until it is almost cooked, but a little too al dente to enjoy. Drain and put to one side. Then, make a thick white sauce and melt plenty of grated cheese into it so it is to your taste. Mix in a drained tin of tuna and any vegetables you might want (sweetcorn and spinach are both good), mix the pasta into this too and pour into a casserole dish. Grate some extra cheese over the top and put into a medium heat oven for 20 minutes, until the cheese has melted and has gone a little crispy. You can then leave it to go cold and serve with lettuce leaves, cucumber and tomato or serve right away with hot vegetables such as peas or broccoli.
If you are putting on a cold buffet or barbecue spread for guests then it's a good idea to give them a choice of two or three different pasta salads. You can cook a big batch of pasta, separate it into three bowls and simply serve with different sauces, dressings and vegetables.
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