I was recently asked if you have to use either mayonnaise or a vinaigrette when making a pasta salad. Can you make a salad with no mayonnaise or vinegar? Anyone who reads this article, even if it’s only once in a while, already knows that the answer to that question is “No.”
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“Think of the flavors you do want to use and then get creative.”
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It’s true that probably at least 95 percent of all cold salads, not just pasta salads, are dressed with either mayonnaise or some type of vinaigrette, but that doesn’t mean you have to use either. The main thing to remember? You’re the person eating it, so be sure you like it.
The intended use matters
There are a few things to consider when you go to dress your salad, and that’s any salad, not just pasta. First, think about what is its intended use. I mean, is this salad for a party, for a week’s worth of lunches, or maybe for just one or two meals for yourself? Also take into consideration how you plan to keep it. That is, will it be sitting out on a buffet line, kept in a backpack or constantly refrigerated? These seemingly little options should have a bigger say in your salad dressing than most give them.
I love mayonnaise, but if it’s going on a salad that’s going to be used on a buffet like a tuna or chicken salad or even a pasta salad, you should always be sure to place the salad bowl into a slightly larger bowl with ice in it. Work the salad bowl down into the ice a little so as it’s not just the very bottom of the bowl that’s keeping cool. Should this make it hard to scoop salad out because the bowl keeps spinning in the ice, simply slip a few pieces of purple kale or something like it between the salad bowl and the ice. Besides keeping the salad bowl in place, it also is a great way to garnish the salad.
Use a variety of oils & vinegars
The good thing about a vinaigrette is that the dressing is also a great preservative. Your salad can remain at room temperature for a far greater time. It is also easy to change the flavor of the salad by simply changing what types of vinegar and oils you use. Raspberry vinegar with walnut oil for a raspberry walnut vinaigrette started me thinking and it led to all kinds of options I use on a regular basis for myself, as well as being requested by clients. Mango or passion fruit macadamia nut vinaigrette are awesome examples that I had never heard of but figured, why not? Did I invent them? No, I’m sure someone else had done similar dressings someplace.
I did mention the mango macadamia nut vinaigrette to the chef at the Memorial Tournament and when I showed up, he had a 50-gallon barrel of it made that he wanted me to tweak for more flavor that he used as the dressing that year. We ended up running out and making another batch. That dressing also made its way into a pasta salad that became a regular salad for the rest of the summer. There are so many different vinaigrettes out there now, the flavor combinations are endless, and if that’s not enough, try adding some sage to a bottle of white or rice vinegar and letting it steep for a few days for use in chicken salads.
But now to the question of if you need either mayonnaise or vinegar in a pasta salad. The answer is use a variety of oils to obtain flavor. If you are going straight oil, this is a great time to break out the nice extra virgin olive oil. You won’t need much but with no vinegar to dilute it, you’ll get every bit of flavor.
If you are using just a simple vegetable or canola oil that really doesn’t have a lot of flavor, you can add ingredients like roasted red pepper, olives, feta cheese and fresh herbs to take up the slack. Another alternative is to use citrus juice. The acid in the fruit will work the same as using a vinegar. A small squeeze of lemon, lime, orange or combinations of them can give you flavor. You can also use the citrus with no oil if you want.
The point is: Think of the flavors you do want to use and then get creative. I was once asked to make a “Hawaiian pasta salad that was totally different from anything else.” I got fresh coconuts and pineapples and made a pineapple coconut pasta salad with the dressing made from the milk inside the coconut and fresh pineapple juice. The meat of the coconut was shredded into the salad with chunks of the pineapple along with a few other chopped veggies and herbs. It got great reviews.
Just remember rule No. 1: Always use recipes as a guide, not a must-follow-exactly law. You are the one eating it, so tweak recipes to please your palate.
Smitty is a personal chef specializing in dinner parties, cooking classes and special events. Trained under Master Chef Anton Flory at Top Notch Resort in Stowe, Vt., Smitty is known for his creative use of fresh ingredients. To read archived copies of Smitty’s column, visit chefsmitty.com or TheTahoeWeekly.com. Contact him at tmmsmitty@gmail.com or (530) 412-3598.
