A classic spaghetti salad, dressed with Italian dressing and dried herbs and tossed with stuffed green olives, pitted medium black olives, marinated artichoke hearts, fresh broccoli florets, grape tomatoes and cucumber.
Cold Spaghetti Salad with Shrimp
Maybe the original "pasta" salad, spaghetti salad has been around for a long time.
Starting pretty basic in its beginnings, the base recipe was just good ole Italian dressing or a simple blend of olive oil and vinegar, poured over a bed of cooked spaghetti noodles, tossed with fresh tomatoes and chilled.
Of course, as always, people have added their own touches to even that salad over the years.
Just inserting a quick reminder here.... that this is a blog, not just a "recipe site," and yes, there is a difference! I want to first thank all of you who have supported my work over the years, but if you aren't interested in the chit chat, info, photos, tips and such in a post, as always, you'll find the complete recipe text with measurements and instructions, as well as a printable document, a little bit further down the page. Just swipe or scroll down to the bottom of the post!
What's in it.
- Spaghetti noodles
- Italian dressing - your own homemade or a good commercial brand
- Marinated artichoke hearts
- Black olives, pitted
- Pimento stuffed green olives
- Fresh broccoli crowns
- Cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
- Fresh tomatoes
- Small cooked salad shrimp
- Basil, dried is fine
- Parsley, again dried
- Dried red pepper flakes
- Parmesan cheese
While salt and pepper will certainly work along with the herbs for seasoning, I suggest using a good all-purpose seasoning instead, something along the lines of Cavender's Greek seasoning or Lawry's. You may recall me mentioning a product I received recently as a substitution in a grocery order called Lawry's Casero Total Seasoning. It contains salt, garlic, onion, oregano, parsley and cilantro, though the cilantro was negligible because I couldn't even taste it. It's good stuff y'all!
Besides those listed above, there are lots of add-ins you could include of course to make this your own, including finely minced red, yellow or sweet onion, celery, sweet red, yellow or green bell pepper, jalapeno or other hot peppers, chopped pimentos, green onion, garlic, seeded, diced summer squash or zucchini, cooked chicken, cooked, chopped bacon.
Here's how to make my Cold Spaghetti Salad with Shrimp.
I'm using Dreamfields spaghetti - a healthier pasta that still has the taste and texture of traditional pasta, but is also a good source of prebiotic fiber - cooked in my Fasta Pasta, but otherwise, bring a large pot of well salted water to a boil. Use part water and part chicken broth for extra flavor. I prefer to break pasta into thirds and boil to al dente according to the package directions. Drain well and place into a storage bowl. Toss with half of the dressing.
For the base, I'm using stuffed green olives, marinated artichoke hearts, pitted medium black olives, fresh broccoli florets, grape tomatoes and cucumber.
I'm using some already cooked salad shrimp, which are typically sold individually quick frozen and unseasoned, so be sure to taste your salad and dress to taste with seasonings. Of course, you can also leave out the shrimp, or substitute another protein like chicken.
Add the seasonings and toss. Use a quality seasoning salt like Cavender's Greek seasoning or Lawry's seasoning salt. I used a new seasoning I recently tried called Lawry's Casero Total Seasoning, add some freshly cracked black pepper, a little Cajun or Creole seasoning, some dried basil and parsley and a dash of dried red pepper flakes, Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour.
Add remaining dressing; toss. Taste and adjust seasonings, cover and refrigerate for at least an hour.
The original cookbook recipe called for a product by McCormick called Salad Toppins, which I had never heard of, but sure enough it was available right at my local grocery, so I thought that I'd give it a try. You can certainly enjoy this spaghetti salad without it too of course!
It does make a great crunchy addition to otherwise soft salads, and I've been shaking a bit of it on all of my salads. If it's not something that you think you'd enjoy on other salads and such, the ingredients include sunflower seeds, soybeans, rice onion, canola, dried carrots, sugar, salt, dried red and green bell peppers, parsley and malted barley, so you could include some of those elements if you like.
While you can add these early on before refrigerating, to keep them crunchy, wait to add them until right before serving.
Toss and sprinkle with red pepper flakes and Parmesan cheese, if desired and transfer to a serving bowl.
By the way, while you can find this cookbook locally at several places, including Hillyer House and The Fryer House in Ocean Springs MS, I'm trying to get a good mail source for y'all to purchase this cookbook new and the updated version, in case you're interested and will update this post if I am able to find it. For now there are limited used copies available on Amazon for the original cookbook.
For more of my favorite pasta salads, check out the collection on my Pinterest page!
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