Creamy pasta salad with sun-dried tomato dressing and crisp vegetables.
This pasta salad is creamy, colourful and packed with flavour – and it is incredibly easy to make.
It is made with cooked pasta tossed with cherry tomatoes, crisp peppers and mild red onion – all brought together by a crème fraîche-based dressing with blended sun-dried tomatoes. The dressing gives a creamy, deep flavour with plenty of umami that goes perfectly with the fresh vegetables and the fusilli.
Just before serving, the salad is topped with crisp-baked Parma ham and a little scattering of green – a bit of parsley, microgreens or fresh basil, for example – which both looks pretty and adds extra freshness.
It is ideal as a side for a barbecue, as a lunch salad or as part of a buffet. You can make it ahead and let it sit in the fridge for a while – then simply top with the Parma ham just before serving to keep that crisp bite.
Pasta salad with tomato dressing and crispy Parma ham
Ingredients
- 250 g pasta, uncooked weight
- 200 g cherry tomatoes, halved
- 2 peppers, diced
- 1 small red onion, cut into thin strips
- 5 slices Parma ham (or Serrano)
- Olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
Dressing
- 300 ml crème fraîche
- 50 ml mayonnaise
- 100 g sun-dried tomatoes in oil
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
Method
- Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions, then rinse it in plenty of cold water. Leave it to drain in a sieve.
- Meanwhile, crisp the ham in the oven. Lay the slices of ham on a baking tray lined with baking parchment and drizzle a little oil over the top – season with freshly ground pepper if you like.Bake in the middle of a preheated fan oven at 200°C for about 8-10 minutes. Let it cool slightly on the parchment.
- Put the sun-dried tomatoes, mayonnaise and a couple of tablespoons of the crème fraîche in a mini chopper and blend until you have a smooth paste.
- Then stir it together with the rest of the crème fraîche and the spices, and season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper.
- Put the pasta, tomatoes, peppers and red onion in a large bowl and toss well with the dressing.
- Crumble the Parma ham into rough pieces over the salad and scatter with a few microgreens or similar before serving, if you like.
Kan man bruge græsk yoghurt i stedet ?
Hej Claus
Ja sagtens:) Måske dressingen skal fortyndes en smule – da græsk yoghurt er mere fast:)
Dbh Dianna