Small Salads: Tuna & Pasta Salad

Hot summer days will soon be here, it is nice to have several entrée “salad” recipes on hand which are easy to prepare and avoid heating up the entire kitchen. “Tuna & Pasta Salad” is one of these dishes. This pasta salad is a twist on the old-time classic, “Tuna Noodle Casserole.” To make the salad, I added canned tuna fish, hard boiled egg, several vegetables and a “lite” dressing to cooked bow tie pasta. Rather than baking in the oven, the entrée is chilled and served cold. It is a “meal-in-one.” I scaled the ingredients down to make two servings which fits our small household; hence it is a “small salad.” I love tuna fish salad and adding pasta makes it even better.

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Creole Shrimp & Pasta Salad with Remoulade Sauce

Are you looking for a tasty shrimp salad to serve during our hot summer weather? Then try a traditional New Orleans-style shrimp and pasta salad. It is cool and refreshing and the unique Remoulade Sauce in the recipe makes the seasoned boiled shrimp really “pop.” You can’t get much more Southern than this dish. The salad is quite different from most shrimp salads which you will find served here in the South but I love my recipe. The idea comes from the proprietor of Martin’s Wine Cellar — a venerable New Orleans establishment which relocated to Baton Rouge after Hurricane Katrina.

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Bayou Boiled Shrimp Salad

“Bayou Boiled Shrimp Salad” is a flavorful way to serve Gulf Coast shrimp. It is a pleasant alternative to fried seafood found in many restaurants. For a unique twist, I boiled the shrimp in my own “seafood boil” blend of spices. The shrimp absorb the seasonings resulting in a flavorful and tender dish. Toss the chilled, boiled shrimp with few other ingredients and salad dressing. This is one of my favorite Louisiana recipes.

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