The first time I enjoyed a delicious pesto salad was during a farewell potluck and I’d wanted to make my own ever since. After discovering pesto sauce and much googling later, this is my own tried-and-tested recipe.

My very own

Ingredients
Farfalle (or other pasta of your choice)
Salmon (or Tuna, Chicken, whatever you prefer)
Medium pitted olives
Cherry tomatoes (I prefer sun-dried tomatoes but they are so expensive and rare in Singapore)
Bell peppers *optional
Pesto Sauce
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt
Black Pepper

I used Fassler’s Signature Salmon “Fresh Herbs” and Dolmio’s Traditional Basil Pesto, both available in the NTUC FairPrice at Ang Mo Kio Hub (but not all the outlets).

Cooking the Pasta
Firstly, bring the water to boil and add salt into the water. I’ve found many different reasons as to why you have to add salt into the water, this one says it’ll help to cook the pasta more evenly and not be slimy, another source says it simply adds taste to the pasta and the temperature increment is too insignificant. Whatever it is, it doesn’t hurt to add a couple of teaspoons of salt isn’t it? Rinse your pasta in cold water once it’s cooked, I’ve learned that since I was a little girl and I do that to all my pasta.

Should you rinse your pasta after you strain it? The bad news is, there’s no right answer; the good news is, there are particular reasons you might want to lean one way or the other. Just keep these things in mind when deciding:

♥ Rinsing pasta in cold water stops it from continuing to cook, which is especially helpful if you are cooking your pasta al dente.
♥ Rinsing the pasta can cool it a bit, but it’s nothing a hot pasta sauce can’t remedy.
♥ Starches on the cooked pasta help the sauce to cling to each noodle, and rinsing the pasta removes these starches. You can remedy this by keeping some of the water the pasta was cooked in, adding it to your dish to thicken the mixture if needed.

Source: all recipes - Pasta, Per Favore

If you have bell peppers, I recommend following the Jamie Oliver way of charring it over open fire on the stove, dump it in into a bowl and cling wrap. The skin will be easy to remove after less than a minute, try it!

While the pasta is cooking, you can chop up all your other ingredients and I simply tear up the salmon with my fingers. Toss the salad in olive oil along with all the other ingredients and a generous dollop of pesto sauce. Finally, add a pinch of coarse black pepper to taste.

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Tags: ang mo kio, basil, brands, cold water, Cooking, dolmio, fassler, hypermart, iga, ntuc, olive, pasta, pesto pasta, pesto sauce, pitted, recipe, rinse, salad, salmon, singapore shopping, why add salt