Pasta salads are not usually considered to be particularly elegant dishes, in large part because people think of them as bowls of mayonnaise that happen to have pasta mixed in. A pasta salad could really be any kind of cold or room temperature salad that has a dressing (as opposed to a sauce) and veggies in it. If you use a long, thin noodle, your pasta can quickly be transformed from a picnic side to an elegant main dish. Elise from Simply Recipes used this techinque with her inspired Sesame and Cilantro Vermicelli Salad. The asian-inspired pasta uses a honey and sesame soy dressing over a mix of thin noodles, cilantro, peanuts, green onions and red pepper, creating a perfectly satisfying summer pasta dish - no mayonnaise required.
