I'm doing a buffet for about 50 people and would be grateful of anyones tried and tested pasta salad recipes.Always bought ready made before but am sure will be easy to make my own.Many thanks.
some chipolatas or any good quality sausage browned and cooked off then cut into chunks, pasta and sweetcorn/peppers with a honey and mustard sauce is nice but might be pricey to do
chop ham peppers egg and other veg you fancy and mix with pasta and mayo
This one is one I concocted some years ago. You can cut any chicken up quite small to make it go further. I have not found one person who dislikes this.
Chicken & Bacon Pasta Salad
Serves 2 to 3 people
Ingredients
1 x chicken breast
2 x Rashers unsmoked lean bacon (rind removed)
Penne Pasta
Small tub of soured cream
Grated Parmesan Cheese
Snipped fresh chives
Freshly ground black pepper
Sweet cherry Tomatoes - Quartered
Cucumber - Diced into small cubes.
Grill a chicken breast and also a couple of rashers of lean unsmoked bacon until the bacon is crispy. Allow to cool.
Boil some Penne pasta and when cooked drain and throw into a bowl. While the pasta is still hot add some grated Parmesan cheese and mix with a fork to coat the pasta. Let the pasta cool. When the pasta is cool add some soured cream and fresh chopped chives, also a twist of freshly ground black pepper. Mix well until the pasta is coated in the cream and chive mix.
Cube the chicken breast and crumble the crispy bacon into the bowl with the pasta. Add some sweet cherry tomatoes quartered and some cucumber finely diced into small cubes. Mix the whole lot again with a fork.
I use an American recipe that my sister gave me years ago... any type of pasta (but not spaghetti or tagliatelli) Artichoke hearts (in can) chopped ... sweet red peppers (in Jar - the pickled type) chopped... pack of salami chopped... some Gherkins chopped....a dollop of mayonaise... and some french/italian dressing and mix... never ever had any complaints always disappears at parties....I've also substituted the salami with chopped crabsticks and prawns...
This sounds gross, but when I was a kid was a firm family favourite. Get your pasta shapes cooked and put in a bowl. Add a tin of spam, cut into small cubes. Add the sauce which you make by mixing together mayonnaise and curry powder to whatever strength you like, adjusting the quantity so it lightly covers the pasta spam mix but doesn't swamp it.