Try this Zesty Italian Pasta Salad recipe, or contribute your own.
- Carbohydrate 0 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 0 g
- Fiber 0 g
- Protein 0 g
- Saturated Fat 0 g
- Serving Size 1 1 recipe (454g)
- Sodium 0 mg
- Sugar 0 g
- Trans Fat 0 g
- Calories 0 calories
Step-by-step
- Boil the pasta according to package directions. Rinse in cold water when cooked.
- Add the vegetables to the salad. For extra flavor, marinate the veggies in the dressing for 3-4 hours prior to putting the salad together. This is totally optional though!
- Mix in half of the Zesty Italian Dressing. Reserve the other half and the dry seasoning mix for immediately before serving the salad, and then mix in.
Unlike a heavy baked casserole, chilled pasta dishes rely entirely on precise texture control to prevent a mushy outcome. Standard hot pasta boiling requires strict timing, but cold salads demand an exact bite. Boil the pasta in a large pot using at least four quarts of rolling water per pound to prevent starches from gumming the strands. Bite into a test piece at the eight-minute mark. Stop cooking immediately when the center yields slightly to the tooth with no white chalky core remaining. Drain the batch into a colander and rinse it immediately under cold tap water. This halts internal carryover heat. Toss the cooled noodles with a neutral high-smoke-point oil to stop them from clumping while resting. Vegetables retain structural integrity better when chopped uniformly into bite-sized half-inch cubes. Starchy noodles absorb liquid continuously over time. Reserve half the dressing and dry seasoning mix separately in an airtight jar. Add this reserved liquid exactly twenty minutes before serving. Freezing breaks down the cellular walls of raw vegetables and leaves thawed noodles spongy, so consume refrigerated leftovers within three days instead.
