I have a secret list of comfort food that I turn to whenever I am on a low. Noodles and pasta – basically the high carb food – are in this sinful list. Every time I indulge in it, I’ll feel an immediate sugar-high rush to my brain which instructs me to switch off and go to sleep. Time to catch some monsters in my dreams, says I to myself after a satisfying meal of pasta or noodles each time.
Which is why I rarely touch these carbs when I am working in the day time. Oh no, not when I have to write serious emails and do serious reports.
Using pasta to make salads is one good way for me to satisfy my cravings without feeling too much guilt. It makes for a lighter meal which is easier for the stomach (and brain) to digest. There isn’t any piping hot, starchy gravy involved so at least I won’t go to cloud nine immediately after the meal. Also, I can put whatever I like into the salad – corn kernels, sliced celery, loads of herb, ham slices, tuna flakes, egg mayonnaise etc. It is a free-reign salad in that sense because nobody can dictate how these salads should be done.
I have been making this pasta salad ever since my university days. I remember I had had to prepare some food for a picnic at a park for my friends. Back then, I wasn’t much of a cook (nowhere near even today) and I was limited by the utensils I could use at my parents’ house. I had thence decided to make pasta salad and that was how I fell in love with the recipe at first taste. I remember I ate a lot of it because I really loved the overall texture and the combination of ingredients. My love for it hasn’t changed a bit and I still whip it up once on lazy weekend afternoons.
Let’s see if the little one will grow up to have the same taste as his mum too. 😆
Ingredients:
- Tri-colour pasta: 500g
- Tuna chunks in water: 2 cans, 150g each, drained well, mashed with fork
- Sweet corn kernels: 1 can, drained well
- Celery: 1 stalk, leaves removed, sliced
- Ham: 200g, diced
- Freshly grated nutmeg powder: 1/2 tsp
- Mint: leaves of 1 stalk, finely chopped
- Lemon juice: 1/2 lemon
- Mayonnaise: 1 cup
- Salt: 1/2 tsp
- Ground blackpepper: 1/2 tsp
- Truffle oil (or olive oil): a dash
Method:
- Cook pasta in boiling water till al dente.
- Drain well. Place inside a big mixing bowl.
- Mix in tuna, sweet corn, celery and ham, adding a tbsp or so of the sweet corn kernel syrup.
- Mix in nutmeg powder, mint leaves, lemon juice, mayonnaise, salt and blackpepper.
- Sprinkle with a dash of truffle oil to serve.
Tricks:
- The truffle oil was a gift from Tasmania, courtesy of my brother-in-law who got it for us while he was there for a holiday. It makes the pasta smell and taste as good as it looks!
- I’ve purposely added some corn kernels and celery slices to the pasta to give it more crunch and texture. Hope you’ll like it this way too!
Serving:
4 – 6 persons
