Pasta salad ......need inspiration

[RamblasTapas]

I need to take a veggie pasta salad to an event.
How can I make it a bit more interesting?

I used to work in a pub where the cook made the most amazing pasta salad. I would love to know what the recipe was! It was tomatoey and quite 'wet'. American pasta salads seem to be full of mayonnaise, corn, pickles, sausage etc. Not to my taste - but there just be some people that like it.

Have you tried marinating the veg before putting together with pasta?
Google : Marinated "Vegetarian Pasta Salad", Recipe Tin Eats; it sound delish!

That looks really good. Thanks

I've made this salad for lots of family gatherings and been asked to bring it again so it must be ok, I love it.

https://www.plantbasedandveganfood.com/arugula-and-peach-pasta-salad/

Red pesto, roasted red peppers and Parmesan cheese is my go to cold pasta salad

It might not be interesting enough but we often make a pesto pasta salad, then add finely chopped tomatoes and cucumber to it, along with tinned sweetcorn and sometimes red/yellow/orange pepper. You could shave nice big pieces of Parmesan over it to make it look a bit more fancy, or add mozzarella balls and maybe some spinach leaves or red onion.
Perhaps not an event worthy salad, more a mid week quick dinner side but it is tasty and colourful with all the added veg.

I had this at an event and have been making it ever since. Aldi recently started selling orzo and I can usually get most of the ingredients there. The one I made has no cheese in it, semi dried tomatoes, basil leaves and artichokes though, but this recipe gives you the idea.

www.allrecipes.com/recipe/280504/mediterranean-orzo-salad/

I use her recipes a lot, they're always very good; never made anything that didn't turn out well.
Can't vouch for this one, as I haven't tried it but I think I will because it sounds really good!

My sister makes one where she adds sliced olives, cucumber, celery, onion, artichoke hearts, dill pickles, and the pasta, she uses homemade Italian dressing to marinate it. She’s cut all the vegetables to bite-size.
Then after about 12 or so hours she adds the chopped tomatoes.
She basically adds whatever she fancies vegetable-wise, but the Italian dressing really does make it taste really good & light.
She adds more dressing as needed because the pasta absorbs it.

Avocado, cherry tomatoes, sweetcorn, beetroot dressed with olive oil, lemon and salt. I make this often and it always goes down well.

I think pasta salad is best when it’s simple. You could try a caprese - oil, garlic, fresh basil and mozzarella.