The Best Pasta Salad Recipe Is No Recipe at All
Pasta salad is the kind of dish intended for cleaning out your refrigerator. After you boil your preferred shape of noodles — I usually use rotini, or if I'm feeling very fancy, fusilli bucati corti — the possibilities from there are endless. First, I scour the veggie drawer for anything that looks like it needs to be used immediately. I usually have sweet peppers, maybe some corn or carrots and celery around, and those all get chopped into small pieces and stirred into the warm pasta. Literally any vegetable you have in your crisper will be good for pasta salad, but cutting it into small, bite-sized pieces is essential for ensuring that it gets evenly distributed throughout the dish. If you find any errant herbs in there, grab those too.
From there, I look for something pickle-y, maybe a jar of salt-brined Persian cucumbers or some crunchy banana peppers. Half a jar of (drained) capers will also work, as will a simple dollop of pickle relish. Then it's time to raid the cheese drawer. Ideally I'll have a few odds ends of cheese, maybe some sharp cheddar and Parmesan, that can be finely diced or shredded and tossed into the bowl. If you insist on protein in a pasta salad, shred up the remnants of that rotisserie chicken you bought a few days ago, or chop up a few hard boiled eggs.
Now, you can start digging around in the pantry. Throw in some crispy onions, or oil-marinated artichoke hearts. Maybe you've got a tin of nice anchovies lying around, or a random handful of nuts just dying to be used. Even if you think it sounds weird, pasta salad is a solid vehicle for trying new food combinations. Some won't work, but more often than not, you're going to find yourself surprised by how much you like some of these random new pairings.
The dressing can be as complicated or as simple as you like. You could easily make your own vinaigrette in the food processor with those errant herbs, some balsamic or red wine vinegar, and decent olive oil, or simply stir together a little salt and oil with some brine from the pickle-y option you chose. A bit of mayonnaise and mustard (especially a grainy or spicy variety) stirred together makes for a surprisingly solid pasta salad dressing, especially if you grate in a clove or two of fresh garlic. Don't be afraid to throw it back to the pasta salads of your '90s childhood with a bottle of Italian dressing, either — that's a classic for a reason, and it hits every single time.
Even if it seems like the ingredients that you choose don't quite 'go together,' everything mingles and mellows once the salad is dressed. The whole point here is to not over-complicate your pasta salad, and just eat things you like without feeling the need to strictly adhere to someone else's recipe. The only problem with this approach is that you're going to accidentally make a truly perfect pasta salad from time to time, and the lack of recipe might make it hard to replicate in the future. (That said, there is of course nothing stopping you from writing down your favorite combos in a notebook and coming back to them when the craving for pasta salad strikes.) See More: Eater at Home
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'I could take them away and have a good meal afterwards.' __ Kartoffel-Karotten-Gugelhupf (potato and carrot Bundt cake) From Kartoffel-Marketing GmbH , a German potato marking company. In true European fashion, the measurements provided refer to weight, not volume. You will need a 10-cup Bundt pan. Time: 90 minutes Serves: 12 Ingredients 9 oz (250g) high-starch potatoes (such as Russets and Maris Pipers) 9 oz (250g) carrots 1.7 fluid ounces (50 mL) carrot juice 1.7 fluid ounces (50 mL) sunflower oil 4 eggs (medium-size, room temperature) 7 oz (200g) sugar 1 packet vanilla sugar 4.5 oz (125g) almonds, ground 4.5 oz (125g) flour melted butter to grease the mold 2 tablespoons breadcrumbs Directions Wash the potatoes and boil them in salted water for about 20 to 25 minutes, until tender. Let them cool slightly, peel them, and then press them through a potato ricer into a bowl. Wash and peel the carrots and grate them finely with the potatoes, using a vegetable grater or a mandolin. Generously grease the Bundt pan with oil or butter. Coat the pan with some breadcrumbs. Preheat oven to 392°F (200°C) on the fan setting. Add carrot juice, sunflower oil, eggs, vanilla sugar, sugar, flour, baking powder and ground almonds to the mashed potatoes and grated carrots and mix with a hand mixer for about four minutes until a dough forms. Pour the potato-carrot cake batter into the prepared Bundt pan. Place the pan in the oven and bake for about 50 minutes until cooked through (if necessary, cover the pan with aluminum foil after half an hour to prevent the cake from burning). Let the cake cool completely (you can also do this on a balcony or terrace) before decorating it with icing. This is important, because otherwise the icing will seep into the cake. In a bowl, combine the powdered sugar and a little lemon juice until thickened. Pour the icing over the cooled cake and decorate with your preferred toppings like chocolate chips, for example. 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