Perfect Pasta Salad (thanks Pam Smart!)

The pasta salad I made for our family bbq is from a cookbook by Pam Smart, called CookSmart: Perfect Recipes for Every Day. Its a GREAT cookbook. She is a former editor of Cooks Illustrated, which is one of my favorite resources, and her books read and work like a more gentle, less scientific version of the CI books. This particular book gives you a basic recipe for something - say, waffles - and then gives you easy variations on the basic recipe. Her waffle variations include cornmeal, blueberry, chocolate chip, etc etc.

She does the same thing for pasta salad, and her method has become my pasta salad bible, if you will. I'm not sure if one NEEDS a bible for pasta salad but it can't hurt, right?

Here is her method:

1. Cook 1 pound of pasta - small shapes like penne, fusilli, ziti, rotelle, etc.
   
2. Prepare 2 pounds of key ingredients - cooked and raw veggies, beans, seafood, mild cheeses
3. Add intense flavors - cured meats, stronger cheeses, nuts, olives
4. Add onions and herbs
5. Add dressing - she offers several different variations for use in italian, asian, and greek pasta salads, amongst others

The salad I made for the bbq on Sunday used tri-color rotini. The key ingredients were celery, garbanzos, roasted red peppers, bell pepper, artichoke hearts, and mozarella. For intense flavors, I added pepperoni, olives, and sun-dried tomatoes. I used a half of a red onion, parsley, and oregano. For the dressing I used her creamy vinaigrette - Sartini olive oil from Trader Joe's (my favorite cheap oo), fresh garlic, dijon, lemon juice, sea salt and fresh-ground pepper. It was DELICIOUS.

The only thing that I disagree with P. Smart on is when to dress the salad. She says to put the dressing on no sooner than 15 minutes before you serve. I find that putting it on an hour or two before, and chilling the salad, then bringing it closer to room temperature before serving really melds all the flavors together. In fact, I like it almost better the next day.

The book gives specific recipes for 7 or so different pasta salads, and then a list of possible ingredients so that you can design your own. The book has terrific recipes for waffles, chocolate cake, and brownies, but I think it is worth it just for the section on pasta salad. Her recipes are fresh, full of great ingredients, and they come out right every time, because her instructions are SO easy to follow.

Click Here for a USA Today article by Pam Smart, describing her pasta salad method. It includes some free recipes for a few of her dressings.

Cheers!

Em