Cooking pasta ahead.


 

Bob Sample

TVWBB Diamond Member
I'm making pasta salad for 60 people Friday and wanted to cook the pasta today. After cooking should I keep it in cold water in the fridge or drain it and keep it in the fridge?

I could also add the oil,vinegar and herbs today and just chop and add my other stuff Friday.

What do you think would be best?
 
Bob, I make my mayonnaise-based pasta salad a day ahead so the flavors can improve...and they do. But most important, if there are "weepy" vegetables in the mix (celery, carrots, onions), I salt them and put them in a strainer to drain for a couple of hours, then roll them tightly in a towel (or squeeze them by hand) to get rid of excess water before combining them with the salad.

In my experience, oil and vinegar dressings seem to absorb into the pasta more than the mayonnaise dressings do, and I don't do them ahead except to degorgé the vegetables and prep all the ingredients and dressing. I would be interested in the answer to your question too.

Rita
 
Hey Rita, I noticed that with the test salad I made that the next day a lot of the dressing had adsorbed into the salad. My wife really liked it.

I'm making the dressing today so the herbs and everything can blend but don't think I'll add it to the pasta yet. I'm going to chop and add the veggies, green onion and red bell peppers, the day of so they are nice and crisp

My main concern is that if I keep the cooked pasta in water it will get mushy.
 
Bob, you can cook your pasta to just al dente, drain it, and toss it with a little oil (olive oil if you are using that in the dressing). Store it in plastic bags in your refrigerator.

Your wife is right about the pasta absorbing the dressing, and that's a good thing. My point was that the pasta loses its surface slipperyness, for lack of a better term. Reserving a little of the dressing to toss in at the last minute might take care of that.

Rita
 
Thanks Rita. Just spent 1 1/2 hours boiling pasta. I need some bigger pots. Went the al dente route with olive oil that you suggested. I'll let you know how it works.
 
You're welcome, Bob. With a crowd like that, you still have a lot of work ahead of you. You're smart to get as much out of the way as possible. I'm sure it will be wonderful.

Rita
 
Haha yeah, tomorrow I'm doing 15lbs of pepper stout beef, prepping veggies and making the baste for the chicken thighs I'm grilling on site.

Have a friend that owns a restaurant so he's making a mango salad with a strawberry vinaigrette dressing for me. I should have gone there and boiled the pasta all in one shot but I would have just ended up at the bar drinking which would have been counterproductive . He's also lending me serving dishes and what not also.
 
I'm glad to hear it, Bob. I hope everything went smoothly for your event. It looked like you were very well organized.

Rita
 

 

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