Cold pasta Salad – With White Sauce

  Pasta salad is a easy to make dish using pasta . It is made with mixed vegetable and a sauce to go with. I used white sauce in preparing this salad. Mostly mayonnaise is used.

 Pasta is a staple food of the Italian cuisine with the first reference dating to 1154 in sicily. Pasta is made from an unleavened dough of durum wheat flour mixed with water and formed into sheets or various shapes , then cooked and served in any number of dishes. There are two broad categories of pasta , fresh ( pasta fresco ) and dry ( pasta secca ). Eggs are used in fresh pasta instead of water.

 Common forms of pasta include long shapes , short shapes , tubes , flat , sheets , miniature soup shapes , stuffed or filled and decorative shapes.

 Pasta is mostly served along with sauce. Pasta sauce gives taste and colour to the pasta.

  Simple sauce like pesto are ideal for long and thin stranded pasta while tomato pasta combines well with thick pasta.

 In northen Italy white sauce is commonly used while in southern Italy tomato sauce is used.

Pasta salad is typically served as an appetizer or a main course.

 The ingredients used vary widely by region , restaurant , seasonal availability . The salad can be as simple as cold macaroni mixed with mayonnaise or elaborate with a vinaigrette. These can include vegetables , legumes , cheese , nuts , herbs , spices , meats , poultry or seafood. Broccoli , carrot , baby corn , cucumbers , olives , onions , beans , chickpeas , peppers , parmesan and feta cheese are used.

Pasta salad is a spring or summertime meal. It is made up of cooked pasta pieces (usually either shell pasta , elbow pasta or penne ) covered in mayonnaise and accompanied by carrot , capsicum.

 I prepared this salad with the store bought dry shell pasta.

Requirements :

Shell Pasta – 1 cup

Carrot – 2 tbs

Onion – 2 tbs

Cauliflower – 6 florets

Capsicum – 2 tbs

Salt

Pepper – ¼ tsp

Butter – ¼ tsp

For white sauce :

All purpose flour – 1 tbs

Milk – 1 cup

Butter – ¼ tsp

Method :

White sauce :

Melt the butter in a pan .

Add the flour and roast well.

Add in the milk and stir continuously.

After five minutes the sauce will thicken , take off from flame and let it cool.

Cook pasta :

Add the pasta and 2 cup of water , let it cook.

Add in a tsp of oil.

Cook for 5 – 6 minutes.

Drain in a colander and keep it under the running water for two minutes.

Vegetables :

Chop the carrot , onion and Bellpepper to fine sticks.

Blanch the cauliflower florets in hot water for five minutes.

Melt the ¼ tsp butter and sauté the carrot , bell pepper and cauliflower for two minutes.

Let it cool.

Mixing of salad :

In a large bowl , add in the cooked pasta.

Followed by the chopped onion and sauted vegetables.

Pour the cold white sauce on top and mix gently.

Add the salt and pepper and mix once.

Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight and serve.

Cold pasta salad is ready to serve.

 Enjoy this healthy , nutritious and colorful pasta...........



 @ Cooking with SJ