Everything But The Kitchen Sink Creamy Pasta Salad
I know what you’re thinking, you can’t have salad without a vegetable as the star. I’m here to tell you we’re gonna make your life better in one easy step. This pasta salad is a cold versatile side dish that is a win with my family at Christmas time (no seriously, I make a tub of this stuff at a time) and when I’m tired of every other staple.
This Everything but The Kitchen Sink Creamy Pasta Salad recipe spurred out of sheer laziness (if you’ve been reading my blog for a while now you should sense a pattern), when I wanted a quick meal that I could eat as is. University life criteria meant most things I made needed to be:
– Cheap;
– Look nutritional (didn’t actually have to be but it was good if it was) and;
– A one pot meal
*Aside* remind me to tell y’all about the time my flatmates and I made hotdog soup.
This pasta salad ticked all of the boxes for me. It also became my go to on Sundays, since in my house, or maybe just a Caribbean standard in general dictates that a salad goes with Sunday food.
I’ve made some tweaks to it over the years, especially now I’m out of school and can afford to not have to ration my olives. I’d encourage you to make it your own as well. The fun thing I love about cooking, is adding new things to a favourite and either loving it or fixing it; and this salad is easily tweaked. The salty slightly sweet taste makes it an easy pairing with just about any meat you’re cooking.
I’ve grown accustom to eating mine as the main side, with some sweet barbeque wings or baked chicken.
How do you make your pasta salad?
Ingredients
- 400 g cooked pasta (fusili or elbows)
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1 medium onion, finely diced
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced black olives
- 1/4 cup diced celery
- 1/2 cup grated carrot
- 1/8 cup sundried tomatoes, finely diced
- 1 tbsp grated ginger
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 tbsp mustard
- 1 tbsp hot sauce
- 1 1/2 tbsp sugar
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Add “toppings” and seasoning to mayonnaise and mix until well combined.
Add mayonnaise mixture to pasta and stir.
Refrigerate for at least one hour.
Serve as a side to your favourite proteins.
Notes
The flavours are more noticeable the day after.
