I want to make a seafood salad, the kind with pasta, for a potluck. I’ll have shrimp, some of that fake crab, and a few scallops in it, with a little diced celery with several pasta shapes, like bows and long tubes.
But I don’t know what goes into the sauce. Probably mayonnaise? But surely not straight. Similar salads I’ve seen have either had the sauce an off-white, or very slightly yellowish or pinkish cast.
What seasonings are best? They aren’t strong, because the seafood would be overwhelmed.
Any Dopers like this kind of thing? I’d sure appreciate some advice.
I would imagine doctoring a good mayonaise would work well. Add the juice of a lemon or two and maybe a small amount of garlic to a cup or so of Mayo. I was thinking that maybe a smidgen of old bay seasoning (much less than a tsp.) might set it off nicely, as well.
Some subtle fresh herbs would also work nicely instead of the old bay, maybe some flat leaf parsley and/or tarragon?
I’m not nuts about mayo-based dressings in pasta salads, but that’s just me, and maybe mayo is best for a seafood salad.
Since the food’s going to be leaving the house and impressing your friends, maybe you could experiment before mixing up the whole bowl – spoon out a small bowl of the stuff and try a couple of different dressings, see what works best.
I usually just go with olive oil and seasonings, or a bottled Italian dressing if I’m out of olive oil.
I want to thank everyone for the replies. I’ll check out the links and figure out which one, then go to the store. But that idea of some old bay seasoning sounds good, or some dill, as I really like dill myself.
When I make pasta salad, I don’t bother with anything other than salad dressing. I just made one for a pool party yestarday that had tri-color fiori, mushrooms, black olives, chunks of genoa salami, and Newman’s Own balsamic vinagrette. No mayonnaise or mayonnaise-like stuff in my pasta salads!
I usually put in a couple tablespoons of olive oil and balsamic, and some dill (or fresh thyme - yum), salt and pepper, and let the veggies sit in it for awhile. Then add some mayo and mix well. Then the cooled and rinsed pasta and seafood. Then add more dill, cuz it’s never enough.