Name: Green goddess pasta salad
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: Serves 4-6 as a side
Ingredients: 300g rigatoni or other pasta tubes; 1 avocado, chopped; 2 spring onions, chopped; 2 tbsp cider vinegar; 4 heaped tbsp mayonnaise; 30g basil, roughly chopped, a few leaves reserved to garnish; 30g parsley, roughly chopped, a few leaves reserved to garnish; 30g chives, roughly chopped, a few stems reserved to garnish; 15g tarragon, roughly chopped, a few leaves reserved to garnish (optional); 2 anchovy fillets in oil (optional); 4 tbsp cold-pressed rapeseed oil, plus extra to drizzle; 2 tbsp hazelnuts, lightly toasted in a hot dry pan, roughly chopped

Green goddess pasta salad

Our quick green goddess pasta salad is the easy side dish you need this summer. Perfect for picnics, barbecues and lunchboxes, this pasta salad has a silky avocado, anchovy and fresh herb dressing. What is green goddess dressing? Green goddess dressing was created in the 1920s amid the Gilded Age decadence of The Garden Court restaurant of the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. It’s a pastel-hued, mayonnaise-heavy affair that adds rich, silky goodness to salads of all sorts. It’s also a brilliant sauce for pasta salads. Twist on a classic: we’ve swapped some of the warmer-climate ingredients (olive oil, wine vinegar, pine nuts) for their British counterparts (rapeseed oil, cider vinegar, hazelnuts), made it a little lighter and introduced bolder acidity to create a more balanced flavour profile. Make it vegan: use plant-based mayo and omit the anchovies for a knockout vegan pasta salad. Browse more brilliant barbecue side dishes.

Serves4-6 as a side

Hands-on10 min

Oven10 min

DifficultyEasy

Method

Bring a pan of salted water to the boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente (still with some bite – about 10 minutes or according to the pack instructions), stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, put the avocado, spring onions, vinegar, mayonnaise, chopped herbs and anchovies (if using) in a blender or food processor. Whizz to a paste, getting it as smooth as you can and scraping down the sides where needed.
With the motor running, stream in the rapeseed oil to loosen the paste into more of a sauce. It should be like a thick mayonnaise; add a splash of water to loosen it further if needed. Season with a generous pinch of salt and pepper, then taste and make sure you’re happy with the balance of flavours – you might want to add a splash more vinegar.
Once the pasta is cooked, drain and rinse briefly under running water to cool. Drain again, transfer to a serving bowl, then add the sauce and stir to coat each piece of pasta in the bright green sauce. Scatter over the nuts, then garnish with the reserved herbs and a final drizzle of oil.