Nudel-Gemüse-Salat mit Aiolisauce (pasta and vegetable salad with aioli)
A cold pasta salad dressed with a real garlic aioli, egg yolk and oil emulsified by hand or machine, rather than mayonnaise thinned with garlic, which gives a noticeably richer, more assertive result. Cooling the pasta properly before dressing it is what keeps the aioli from breaking into an oily, separated mess.
Prep25 min
Cook15 min
Rest30 min
Servings4
Christoph's pasta salad with a real aioli, the pasta cooled fully before dressing so the emulsion doesn't break.
Ingredients
Written for a 4 L pot
Units
Temperature
Servings
Salad
- 350 g short pasta rounded
- 150 g green beans, trimmed, in 2 cm pieces rounded
- 150 g cherry tomatoes, halved rounded
- 100 g red bell pepper, diced rounded
- 60 g pitted black olives rounded
Aioli
- 2 egg yolks rounded
- 2 garlic cloves, finely grated rounded
- 10 ml lemon juice rounded
- 5 g Dijon mustard rounded
- 200 ml neutral oil rounded
- to taste fine salt rounded
Dietary labels are a guide, not a guarantee. If you have an allergy, read the ingredients yourself.
Method
- Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions. Add the green beans for the final 3 minutes of cooking. Drain and rinse under cold water until fully cooled, then drain very well.
- Whisk the egg yolks, garlic, lemon juice and mustard together in a bowl until pale and slightly thickened.
- Add the oil in a very thin, slow stream, whisking constantly, until the aioli is thick, glossy and fully emulsified. Season with salt.
- Combine the cooled pasta and beans with the tomatoes, pepper and olives in a large bowl.
- Toss with the aioli, adding it gradually and tasting as you go; it is a rich dressing and you may not need all of it.
Method in the Thermomix
Written for a TM5 or TM6, 2.2 litre bowl. This covers the aioli; pasta and vegetables are cooked conventionally.
- Egg yolks, garlic, lemon juice and mustard into the bowl with the butterfly inserted. Mix 20 sec / speed 3.
- With the machine running on speed 3, pour the oil in through the hole in the lid in a very thin, slow stream. Continue until fully emulsified, about 2 to 3 minutes. Season with salt.
- Continue by hand from step 4 of the hand method.
Notes
- Cool the pasta fully before dressing it, at least 30 minutes. Warm pasta melts the aioli’s emulsion and can make it split, leaving an oily, separated salad rather than a creamy one.
- Add the oil to the aioli slowly, especially at the start. Adding it too fast is the single most common cause of a broken, split emulsion; if it does split, whisk a fresh egg yolk in a clean bowl and slowly beat the split mixture into it to bring it back.
- Dress the salad gradually and taste as you go. The aioli is rich and a little goes further than expected; you can always add more but cannot easily take it away.
- It keeps for 2 days in the fridge, though it is best the day it is made, before the pasta continues to absorb the dressing.
Ingredient substitutions
- Green beans can be sugar snap peas, cooked the same way.
- A good store-bought mayonnaise with extra garlic stirred in is a reasonable shortcut if you would rather not make a raw egg emulsion.
- A can of tuna, drained and flaked through, is a common, heartier addition.
From Christoph Mayer