Noodle Salad German Style

German noodle salad

Last weekend it was once again time to provide some food for two potlucks. This is always a nice opportunity to make something I haven’t done before. On the other hand it also poses a problem because you never know if someone else will make the same thing. Another question is: main dish or dessert? I like dessert a lot (I am sure you know that by now) but people here tend to bring a lot of dessert. Then it can get a bit problematic if there are not enough main dishes.

I thought about making Schnitzel (recipe here) again but that’s a good amount of work and time was not my friend last weekend. I thought about cupcakes or something like that but that is a lot of work as well. Finally, I concluded I should make a salad and be done with it. I also decided to make Banana Bread (recipe here) because I had a bunch of frozen bananas.

This noodle salad (Nudelsalat in German) is proudly presented by my mother, e.g. it is her recipe. I tweaked it a bit but she said one can do whatever they like. The noodles we use in Germany are called “Gabelspaghetti”, e.g. fork spaghetti. They are a bit longer and thinner than your elbow noodles.

Via

Ingredients:

– elbow noodles/macaroni
– peas
– corn
– red bell pepper
– carrots
– mushrooms
– Knorr Salatkrönung “Würzige Gartenkräuter” or a light dressing of your choice

Using elbows or macaroni noodles, don’t overcook.

I cooked about 4 cups of noodles with some salt and olive oil, strained them and shocked them with cold water. This is a cold salad so you want your noodles to cool down quickly. While the noodles where cooking I chopped up my vegetables, mushrooms and the red bell peppers where fresh. When you dice them make sure you don’t have too large pieces.

Corn, still a bit frozen

The peas and carrots where canned and I strained them. The carrots I used where whole carrots so I sliced those ones. You could use fresh carrots as well. The corn I used was frozen because I had those in the freezer, canned would work fine as well or even fresh corn.

Orange and red bell peppers, small dices.

Take a big bowl and place you noodles in it, add every vegetable one at a time and mix in between so that everything is well combine. The carrots are likely to break up because they were canned/cooked, but that’s ok.

Fresh mushrooms, again, canned would work as well.

So season the salad I used the “Knorr Salatkrönung – Würzige Gartenkräuter”, which is mixed with water an oil. Unfortunately, this mix does not exist in Canada. I recommend you mix your own dressing made up of oil, vinegar, and any herb you like that compliments each other.

I love canned peas, no one understands that. 😉

As far as I can tell the salad was well received and I don’t think there are no left overs. However, I am not too sure because I had to leave the potluck early and my husband forgot to bring the bowl. Ce la vie, eh?!

Well mixed and seasoned. Can you see the carrots?

You can use all fresh ingredients if you want to. As a result the salad would be a bit crunchier, which some people love. If it’s the season for those vegetables I certainly recommend it. I like canned vegetables because I grew up with them, not because my parents didn’t believe in fresh vegetables but because it was more affordable. (Growing up in the GDR, e.g. East Germany, was sometimes a challenge.)

I hope you enjoy this as much as I do. Happy salad making!