Oh no! The potluck's tonight! Sound familiar? I've been there a few times myself. There I am, with about an hour to get to the potluck, and no idea what I'm going to bring. What to do, what to do.
You have three options: 1) Don't go, and miss out on a really fun time. 2) Show up empty-handed and explain red-faced that you forgot. 3) Grab a casserole dish, head to the deli and pass something off as Grandma's secret recipe.
Since none of those options really appeal to you, I think I have a solution; pasta salad! By keeping a few ingredients on hand at all times, you can easily throw together a tasty treat in virtually minutes. Starting with pasta and salad dressing, you can build yourself a dish that will suit any potluck. Let's get started.
Standard pastas like penne, shell, rotini, and even macaroni noodles will make a fine pasta salad once you add your personal touch. If you have a lot of partially full boxes of different pastas, just mix them together. Be sure to cook similarly sized pastas together. If you're cooking penne with angel hair pasta, you'll run into trouble because the cooking time is different. You would want to cook these types of pasta in separate pots.
You'll be able to create just about any pasta salad if you have at least one of the basic salad dressings in your kitchen; Italian and Ranch. These two are very versatile. However, if you like to make your own homemade dressing, go right ahead. Use your favorite recipe or just whip up some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, or apple cider vinegar, mustard, salt, pepper, and whatever herbs you have on hand.
Now it's time to cook the pasta. Decide on the dressing you're using while the pasta cooks. Then, drain the pasta and put it into a large serving bowl. Before the pasta cools off, pour on the dressing. You want to do this while the pasta is warm so it absorbs all the flavor. Be careful not to add too much dressing right away. You can add more as you go but you can't take it out.
Now comes the creation. Look around your kitchen to see if you have any ingredients like tomatoes, broccoli, peas, parsley, celery, onion, mushrooms, cheese, canned garbanzo beans, black olives, or anything that sounds good to you. Even green olives or marinated artichokes would work. And don't forget to add a little extra crunch with nuts or croutons.
Cut or shred leftover chicken and throw it in. Or, if you have a bit of grilled steak left, thinly slice that and add it. Do a little taste-testing as you go by taking a small portion of the pasta salad out of the big bowl and put it in a small bowl, then add the next ingredient and taste, until you're satisfied. Throw it all together in your serving bowl, put the cover on, and head out to your potluck - on time and with a dish to pass.
Forgotten about a potluck tonight? No problem! All it takes is a few simple ingredients and a little imagination and you'll have a delicious pasta salad ready to save the day!
You have three options: 1) Don't go, and miss out on a really fun time. 2) Show up empty-handed and explain red-faced that you forgot. 3) Grab a casserole dish, head to the deli and pass something off as Grandma's secret recipe.
Since none of those options really appeal to you, I think I have a solution; pasta salad! By keeping a few ingredients on hand at all times, you can easily throw together a tasty treat in virtually minutes. Starting with pasta and salad dressing, you can build yourself a dish that will suit any potluck. Let's get started.
Standard pastas like penne, shell, rotini, and even macaroni noodles will make a fine pasta salad once you add your personal touch. If you have a lot of partially full boxes of different pastas, just mix them together. Be sure to cook similarly sized pastas together. If you're cooking penne with angel hair pasta, you'll run into trouble because the cooking time is different. You would want to cook these types of pasta in separate pots.
You'll be able to create just about any pasta salad if you have at least one of the basic salad dressings in your kitchen; Italian and Ranch. These two are very versatile. However, if you like to make your own homemade dressing, go right ahead. Use your favorite recipe or just whip up some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, or apple cider vinegar, mustard, salt, pepper, and whatever herbs you have on hand.
Now it's time to cook the pasta. Decide on the dressing you're using while the pasta cooks. Then, drain the pasta and put it into a large serving bowl. Before the pasta cools off, pour on the dressing. You want to do this while the pasta is warm so it absorbs all the flavor. Be careful not to add too much dressing right away. You can add more as you go but you can't take it out.
Now comes the creation. Look around your kitchen to see if you have any ingredients like tomatoes, broccoli, peas, parsley, celery, onion, mushrooms, cheese, canned garbanzo beans, black olives, or anything that sounds good to you. Even green olives or marinated artichokes would work. And don't forget to add a little extra crunch with nuts or croutons.
Cut or shred leftover chicken and throw it in. Or, if you have a bit of grilled steak left, thinly slice that and add it. Do a little taste-testing as you go by taking a small portion of the pasta salad out of the big bowl and put it in a small bowl, then add the next ingredient and taste, until you're satisfied. Throw it all together in your serving bowl, put the cover on, and head out to your potluck - on time and with a dish to pass.
Forgotten about a potluck tonight? No problem! All it takes is a few simple ingredients and a little imagination and you'll have a delicious pasta salad ready to save the day!
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