basic pasta salad?

[desh]

OK. So I know I can make a pasta salad. I've got the pasta part down, and I can eyeball the right amount of other solid ingredients (feta, bell peppers, cucumber, olives, green onion). I'm just not at all sure about the liquid ingredient ratio or overall quantity.

So. For 1 pound of pasta, how much olive oil? How much vinegar? How much lemon juice, if any? (For bonus points, does red wine vinegar or balsamic sound better?) And how many people do you think this will serve overall (i.e. should I halve it)?

(The internet is really confusing on this score. Some sites say to use a 3:1 ratio of oil to vinegar, or maybe it's vinegar to oil? Some say to use the same amount, and they can't both be right! Also, so many sites measure the pasta in cups, though it comes in the box in pounds. How many cups to a pound? Is that uncooked cups or cooked? I figured it was just better to ask here.)

Thanks!

Comments

[jenett]

I'm still perfecting my own pasta salad recipe, so I'm looking forward to the other answers here!

(In particular, I don't eat peppers if I can avoid them, because I get that horrible aftertaste in my mouth for about a day after, and I don't much care for raw onion.)

I can help with one bit though: the oil/vinegar ratios really depend on taste. Some people like a much lower acidity ratio, some people like more. (I really like vinegar or lemon juice taste, so I go for a 1:1 ratio, or even a 2 parts vinegar one part oil ratio, depending on what else is in there.

But I tone it down if I'm, say, bringing it to a potluck, because I know I'm way out on the edge for preferring the acidity.

[leanne]

One of the things you can do to tame raw onion is to soak your onion bits/slices in cold water for about 15 minutes and then drain before adding to your salad. It kills some of that raw oniony burn but doesn't nuke all the flavor.

I am also a big fan of the 1:1 ratio of oil and vinegar. More oil makes the dressing just tasteless to me. {:

[angelikitten]

Oooh, I did not know that about the onion - I must try that sometime!