Melba's Jammin' wrote:
> In article
> >,
> " > wrote:
>
>> I have question about making a pasta salad so to speak. I have had a
>> pasta salad at places, and there are vegtables mixed in such as
>> cauliflower, brocolli, carrots, peas and so forth. To make this I
>> assume you cook the pasta, and then cook the veggies, and mix them
>> together. What would you use as a binder: olive oil? What else would
>> you add.
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Tom
>
> Don't cook those vegetables, Tom. Blanch them for a minute and then
> plunge into ice water to stop the cooking and to chill them. I don't
> think of using a "binder" for the salad, but rather a dressing, most
> often a bottled Italian dressing or a made-up-on-the-fly dressing with
> oil, vinegar, maybe some herbs, maybe some fresh parsley. Some black
> pepper, too. And a pinch of sugar. Mix the vegetables with the cooked
> pasta, add the dressing, and chill for an hour or so. Or serve it at
> room temperature. Sometimes I prefer the room temp. You can also use a
> small jar of marinated artichokes and its marinade as part of the
> dressing component.

Curious minds and all that, is pasta salad some sort of Midwestern
"thang?" I never heard or saw, or ate, any of it until we neighbors move
into Texas from the Midwest, somewhere up around southern Canada is
where they were from and they ate all sorts of weird stuff. I got used
to the stuff but really don't have a preference for it to this day. But,
then, I don't like corned beef and cabbage either.