Make-Ahead Curry Pasta Salad

Pasta salad is one of those things that sounds great in theory, but it hardly ever lives up to the expectations you have for it. The first bite starts off with promise, but it quickly gets boring. When you make it ahead for a potluck, the pasta soaks up all the liquid and gets dry and clumpy. These were just a few of the challenges I wanted to solve when I recently got asked to cook a casual dinner for 40 volunteers working a local festival.

To solve the boredom issue, I added some curry powder to the dressing to spice things up and turn it into a curry pasta salad. From there, every ingredient I chose does something different. The corn and golden raisins bring sweetness to play off the savory ham, and the celery and fried onions give you something crisp and crunchy to bite into between mouthfuls of tender pasta.

To fix the dryness issue, I made the dressing using a combination of yogurt and mayonnaise. These give it a richness that still tastes tangy and refreshing. Tossing the pasta in while it's hot lets it soak up that seasoning to the core, and using enough dressing keeps this make-ahead pasta salad creamy, even after a night in the fridge.

Being able to make it the day before is what put this curry pasta salad on the menu for that dinner for 40. It also works as both a salad and a carb, which means one less dish to make for a party or potluck. For the rest of the menu, I went with other dishes where most of the work can be done in advance: lemon pepper chicken salad, spicy stuffed peppers, and pork belly kakuni.