When making a past salad the first thing that you need make sure you get right is the pasta, seems obvious really but so many people get it wrong.

The whole world knows that pasta should be "al dente" when cooked for a hot pasta dish, for a pasta salad you need to very slightly, by a matter of seconds, undercook the pasta as it's own heat will continue to cook it whilst cooling. The safest way to ensure that you don't over cook it is to run it under some cold water as some as you have drained it, this will stop it from cooking itself.

When the pasta has cooled sufficiently you can start to create your salad. As with all Italian food the trick is to keep it simple, basic ingredients, and less is more. Even with the bare minimum of ingredients you can make a really healthy, nutritious and delicious salad from such ingredients as olive oil, pine nuts, garlic and parsley.

Drizzle the cooled pasta with the olive oil, lightly toast the pine nuts until golden brown and add them to the pasta and oil. Toss the ingredients to mix. Finally chop a clove or two (depending on amount of pasta cooked) of garlic and the parsley and mix that in with the salad. Add salt and pepper to taste and even a hint of chilli if you'd like to give it a bit of an extra kick.

Hey presto one easy pasta salad. That really is the most basic of pasta salad dishes not only that but it's a great starting point from which to add to. Depending on your taste you can take your salad in any direction you like from here. Cube some salami to add a nice meaty texture, add some cooked chicken for some added protein or raw vegetables to add some crunch. You can add olives for a deeper flavour; you can serve the salad with a green salad and tomatoes, all very low in fat and very high in goodness. Pasta salads are ideal if watching your weight.

Whatever you add as long as you keep the base to the salad as close to the original basic salad you can't go that wrong. Pasta salads are cheap to make and cover so many situations. Home from work late? No time to cook a full meal? You can whizz up a pasta salad in next to no time. Pasta salads are ideal for buffets and barbeques, again easy to make with maximum appreciation from everyone.

Use your imagination, and remember everyone loves pasta salad. Stick to the basic pasta salad recipe and add to it from there and you can't go far wrong.
Enjoy