A thesis (and potentially unpopular opinion): Pasta salad is at its best when the salad element is kept at arm’s length. I do not eat pasta salad for lettuce or spinach or other leafy greens, I eat pasta salad for, well, pasta. And I want the pasta to be those wacky shapes I would never let near my long-simmered Sunday Bolognese: fusilli, farfalle, elbow macaroni, orzo. I believe the pasta salad apotheosis is Hawaii’s mac salad, where the noodle is squat and curled and the vegetable element is one grated carrot in a metric ton of mayonnaise.
That being said, I will accept cold, crunchy things and tender herbs in my pasta salad, and would gladly devour Yossy Arefi’s orecchiette salad with halloumi croutons. (I’ll give us all a moment to absorb “halloumi croutons.”) Sweet cherry tomatoes, refreshing cucumbers, cilantro, mint and red onion are tossed with those crispy, golden cubes of squeaky cheese, cooked pasta and a simple red wine vinaigrette. I’ll allow the optional handfuls of baby arugula, but let’s all remember: The pasta comes first in pasta salad.
Featured Recipe
Orecchiette Salad With Halloumi Croutons
The mangoes at my market are particularly good right now, so it’s time for these black pepper chicken thighs with mango, rum and cashews from Melissa Clark. (Several readers used defrosted frozen mango with great success.) Also golden, fragrant and subtly spicy is Millie Peartree’s coconut curry fish, a fantastic use for frozen white fish fillets like whiting or cod.
Ali Slagle’s grilled pork chops with dill pickle butter — I’ll give us another moment for “dill pickle butter” — hasn’t been out in the world that long, but it’s already racking up rave reviews. One reader, Annie Bananie, wrote: “There were absolutely no reviews when I saw this recipe but because I have undying faith in Ali Slagle and an over-abundance of pickles from last year’s garden, I took a chance. The pork chops were tangy and moist with that wonderful grilled flavor. Served with zucchini fritters. I was declared a rock star!”
Now for some gorgeous green things! Farideh Sadeghin’s maroulosalata (green salad with feta and dill) is, as Farideh writes, simple and effortless: Toss sliced romaine hearts, fresh dill, crumbled feta and sliced scallions with olive oil and fresh lemon juice, and then season it with salt and pepper, no separate dressing required. This vegan pesto pasta salad from Ali is also vibrantly verdant; the pesto gets its punch from capers and your choice of pistachios, almonds or pine nuts.
But nothing is as effusively emerald as this bánh bò nướng, or honeycomb cake, a recipe by Hannah Pham and adapted by Genevieve Ko. The cake gets its stretchy honeycomb texture from a mix of tapioca starch and rice flour; pandan paste provides a dazzling grass-green hue. No pandan paste? No problem. You’ll still get a delightful cake with a sticky-soft interior and golden crust, perfect with a Vietnamese iced coffee.
