I know... It doesn't look like anything, but this is amazing!!!! If I would have had to woo André with a recipe, this easy, wonderful one would have done the trick.
I adapted this salad from a healthier version my mother use to make all the time during the summer. But she is holding back on the good, secret, can't do without ingredient: the mayonnaise. The important thing here is that you buy the REAL mayonnaise. Not Miracle Whip, not that low fat (silly) version and not that Swedish non-sense (seriously guys, like Monica in Friends would say: THIS IS NOT MAYONNAISE!): you need the Hellman's mayonnaise.
Cook some small pasta al dente. While it is boiling, cut some nice vegetables (and fruits, I did not forget Alex ;): bell peppers, cucumber, broccoli, green onions, sun dried tomatoes... Mix together and add some cube of cheese and maybe some cube of ham also? Oh yeaaaaaaaaaaaaah...
The secret is to mix and match some sweet and salty stuff. Add some nice cashews or peanuts, some raisins or cranberries. Be creative! I cut enough so that half of the mix will not be pasta. This seems like a good proportion!
Once the pasta are cooked, drain them and add it to the rest of the ingredients, mix well. Now comes the time to add the gooooood stuff. I normally elongate my mayonnaise with some sun dried tomatoes oil (not too much). I add some salt and pepper. We have homemade chili salt, made by pulverising some chili with salt, that we then dry for a day on a cookie tray before putting it in a spice bottle. This makes things spicy and soooo delicious! We also found bruschetta spice mix. This is very good, but maybe not easy to find. Again, be creative, and TASTE it as you go, this is the secret! I sometimes just put mayonnaise and some pesto (fancy one if you have it), or just some onion powder (another secret ingredient of mine). Mix together. You need to add enough of the good stuff so it's sticky. The salad will be better, if you can resist!!!
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