As good as the ingredients you use fresh pasta, fresh veg, good oil
Yes, cold pasta salad recipes will turn out to be as excellent as the ingredients you use to make them.
Why not start by making your own fresh pasta? The Atlas Italian Pasta Machine is the most famous pasta machine in the world. With a variety of attachable blades to buy, you'll love the ease of making spaghetti, linguini, ravioli, and lots more!
Now let's get started with this tasty cold pasta salad recipe:
Orecchiette is the Italian word for "little ears" and this is the pasta to use in this fresh tomato recipe, which serves 4 people:
400 grams orecchiette pasta
500 grams of ripe red (and yellow if possible) cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters
150 grams of black olives with their stones removed, halved if large
8 anchovy fillets in oil, drained and chopped
a small clove of garlic crushed
a few large splashes of extra virgin olive oil
a few fresh leaves of marjoram, thyme or oregano
Cook the pasta in plenty of boiling water until al dente (tender).
Meanwhile mix the tomatoes, olives, anchovies and garlic in a large bowl with the olive oil to coat.
Drain the pasta and add it to the bowl while warm, so that it picks up all the juices. Stir, leave to cool and add the herbs. Cover and chill until ready to transport. Allow to unchill before eating. Great for a sunny picnic.
Pasta Salad with Asparagus is one of those great cold pasta salad recipes to use if you have a lot of cheap produce. In this case - asparagus, such as the baskets of spears I buy at the local farm shop. I don’t recommend using expensive, graded, asparagus in such a recipe!
1 small shallot finely chopped
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
350 g fresh asparagus spears
2 endives, cored and thinly sliced
1/2 small red pepper, chopped
200 g farfalle pasta (bows), cooked to al dente, refreshed in cold water
100 g frozen peas
a handful or two of chopped flat leaf parsley
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Put oil in small pan on heat and add chopped shallot. Heat gently for 5 or 6 minutes until shallot is soft and has imparted its flavour into the oil. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Hold a spear of asparagus at each end and snap it. The spear breaks where the tender tops meet the tough bottoms. Do the same with each spear. Discard the tough bottom parts.Steam or par-boil the asparagus tops in an inch of simmering water, covered for 3 to 5 minutes. Refresh in cold water and drain.
Cut the spears into 1-inch pieces on an angle and add to a bowl. Mix with shredded endive, red pepper, cooked pasta, peas and parsley. Don’t worry about defrosting the peas.
Mix vinegar into cold shallot oil, pour over salad and toss. Season salad with salt and pepper to taste and toss again.
Pasta Salad with smoked salmon is a quick salad to make and stretches a small vacuum pack of smoked salmon a bit further! This serves 4:
250 grams (8oz) smoked salmon
400 grams (14 oz) pasta twists or farfalle
3 tablespoons of lemon juice
6 tablespoons of virgin olive oil
a little salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper
Cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling water until tender. Strain and rinse in cold water. Add the lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper. Leave to cool. Cut the smoked salmon into strips (or use cheaper pieces, already cut) and gently mix with the pasta.
Now here are two cold pasta salad recipes, which could also be used for a picnic in cooler weather. (In fact you shouldn’t use mayo if the weather is hot as it can easily spoil.)
The first is a variation on Waldorf salad. These are the ingredients necessary for 4 people:
75 grams (3oz) any short-cut pasta
2 red apples
a tablespoon of lemon juice
2 stalks of celery
a handful of raisins
a handful of walnuts
2 heaped tablespoons of mayo
a tablespoon of sour cream or crème fraiche
salt and pepper to taste
Cook the pasta until al dente (just tender) and drain and rinse in cold water.
Core the apples and chop into smallish pieces, leaving on the red skin. Toss in the lemon juice to prevent them going brown.
Chop the celery and walnuts into small pieces. Mix everything together, leaving a few pieces of walnut to sprinkle on the top.
The next cold pasta salad recipe is a variation of
coleslaw
again using mayonnaise, so, unlike the first cold pasta salad recipe, you should not leave it in the sun. Again, these ingredients are enough for 4:
75 grams (3oz) any short pasta
75 grams (3oz) white cabbage
half a small red or green pepper
a carrot
a tablespoon chopped chives or a spring (green) onion chopped finely
about 150 ml of mayo
a tablespoon of sour cream or crème fraiche
a tablespoon of vinegar
2 teaspooons of sugar
Cook the pasta until al dente (just tender) and then drain and refresh in cold water.
Finely shred the cabbage, deseed and chop the pepper finely and grate the carrot. Add the chives or chopped onion and pack in a sealed container with the cold pasta.
Mix the the mayo, cream, vinegar and sugar and carry in a separate container to the picnic, keeping it cool. Mix well with the pasta and vegetables before serving.
Have you any cold pasta salad recipes that you would like to share? Please add one
here.
Why not start by making your own fresh pasta? The 
is the most famous pasta machine in the world. With a variety of attachable blades to buy, you'll love the ease of making spaghetti, linguini, ravioli, and lots more! 
