When welcoming the spring and summer seasons, it’s the perfect time to head on outside for a bit of al fresco dining or a picnic. Hearty, warm dishes are swapped for lighter, fresher meals consisting of picky bits, crisps and dips, and pastas and salads – or maybe even a pasta salad.
However, it can be tricky to make sure you get the right balance of flavour and texture when crafting your chosen pasta salad. Sometimes it can be overwhelmed by the addition of creamy mayo, but some food experts have stood by adding one ingredient to the dish to bring an extra dimension. This is an ingredient you’ll find at any supermarket.
Speaking to Simply Recipes, food fan and founder of Cafely Mimi Nguyen, chef Dennis Littley, and chef, recipe creator and writer Jessica Randhawa all recommend adding pickle juice – or gherkins – to pasta salads. By adding the brine to the dressing, it can add acidity to a creamy sauce that will “lift” the dish.
Jessica said: “A generous splash of pickle juice (usually from dill or bread-and-butter pickles) completely transforms macaroni salad from good to exceptional.”
With the addition of acidity, it will “brighten the salad”. Jessica explained gherkin brine will “brighten the salad with subtle acidity and sweetness, balancing the richness of the mayo-based sauce and enhancing all the other flavours”.
However, you need to make sure that you’re adding just enough to enhance the flavour of the dressing, rather than overpowering the dish and making it taste like gherkins.
Dennis said: “You want just enough to bring some brightness without making the salad taste like straight-up pickles. It’s a small move, but it makes a big difference in flavour.”
Brine will also work with mayo and mustard-based dressings.