I'm not going to labor long on this post; pasta salads typically don't need a lot of explanation, and this Turkey Cashew Pasta Salad is no exception.
I will tell you that every time I make this for friends or bring it to a backyard cookout, I watch people go back for more...and more... and sometimes even more. One time when I brought it up to our friends' lake house, I was surprised to see the whole thing was devoured - the serving bowl was totally clean - not even a cut piece of scallion stuck to the side. It was at that moment that I knew I found a solid "go to" pasta salad for gatherings. It's been in my rotation ever since.
Everything in this recipe is raw or precooked, so aside from boiling the pasta, the only thing left to do is chop and mix. It really couldn't be easier! I like to use cooked, boneless turkey breast I find at the local grocer. You could bake and prep your own, but I'm not a believer in making more work for yourself for something like deli salad. If you had leftover turkey breast, I think it would work just as well here too. Just make sure it's in small bite sized pieces; you wouldn't want to use sliced deli turkey for this recipe.
The solid ingredients get chopped into bite sized pieces, the pasta gets a quick boil-drain-rinse in cold water, and the wet ingredients are mixed in a separate bowl. Believe it or not we're almost there!
I'm going to stop here and sidebar a little - for a dish like this, I swear by my garbage bowl (made famous by Ms. Rachael Ray herself!) I sometimes use two, if I'm using one for the trash can and one for the garbage disposal. I was moving fast on this recipe and decided it was all going into the trash, so one bowl it was.
For those of you unfamiliar with the garbage bowl, the idea is to just have a handy place to toss any scraps or trash as you are moving along, saving trips to the trash can or sink. You could use any bowl, or box, or bag for that matter and it would function just the same, but I may be a bit of a kitchen snob on this one. I love the Rachael Ray bowl. It's big without being too big, it's plastic (melamine) so it won't break if I drop it, absolutely nothing stains or sticks to it, it never retains odor, it's dishwasher safe (although I've never had to put it in there as everything slides right out and it takes me two seconds to run a soapy sponge around the inside and rinse it out) and there's a cool rubber ring on the bottom of the bowl so it never slides around on your prep surface. And it comes in a dozen colors - so what's not to love? Most of my meals begin with me whipping out the garbage bowl - it's that essential for me. I picked mine up at Big Y but if you are interested, I linked to it on Amazon up above. (And I'm getting zero kickbacks on the sale of the garbage bowls - no pressure - I just think you'd love it.)
Back to the salad....
At this point, it's all about tossing it together to blend the flavors.
It needs to sit for a few hours before serving it, so just cover it and keep it cold. When you're ready to bring it to the table, just stir in the cashews and you're done.
I would wait to stir in the cashews until you are about to serve because I believe the liquid may make them soft over time and you really want them to have a nice crunch. The picture I took was before I stirred in the nuts.
So that's it! I'm sure if you try this recipe for Turkey Cashew Pasta Salad it will become on of your crowd's favorites too! If you give it a go, come back and let me know what you think. Enjoy!
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