The following is the recipe I used but as you can see substitutes and additions could be easily used. For instance, I really wanted to use macadamia nuts in place of the called for cashews. That was of course until I seen the price of macadamia nuts here

 

HAWAIIAN PASTA SALAD

1 (20 oz.) can chunk pineapple in juice 1 (8 oz.) med. size seashell pasta 2 oranges, peeled, chunked 1 red bell pepper, julienne cut 1 1/2 c. julienne cut ham 1 c. julienne cut carrots 1 c. cashew nuts 1 c. frozen peas, thawed 1/2 c. fresh orange juice 1/2 c. vegetable oil 1 tbsp. grated orange peel 1 tbsp. sugar 1 tbsp. basil 1/4 tsp. black pepper Dash of nutmeg Drain pineapple, reserving 1/2 cup juice. Cook pasta according to package directions. Combine salad ingredients in a large bowl. For dressing, combine reserved pineapple juice with dressing ingredients. Pour over salad. Toss well, cover and refrigerate at least one hour or overnight. Makes 6-8 servings.

 

This salad has wonderful color. Makes me think Hawaii!

 

When I made this, I made a bit more pasta then what the recipe called for but to be honest I think it worked out fine, and I might add a little more the next time around.

 

One thing to remember is to wait to add the cashews until shortly before servingso that the dressing doesn't make them soggy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This recipe lends itself well to variation and tweaking, as it is very versatile. When we made this, we did it a bit differently - most notably, we used large shell pasta rather than small, and cut the indgredients into cubes rather than julienne strips. There was no real reason for this other than convenience. Finally, since we live in a one-horse town (), we unfortunately had to skip the cashews, since they were expensive here.

 

Our first step was to grill the ham for a few minutes on each side on the gas grill:

 

 

Meanwhile, we got some pasta boiling:

 

 

Once it was done, we drained it well, rinsing with cold water.

 

Here we have an orange and a grapfruit, peeled, sectioned and chopped:

 

 

And a tomato, rather than a red pepper:

 

 

After cutting the ham into cubes:

 

 

And the carrots into coins:

 

 

We brought together the ingredients for the "vinaigrette," including orange juice, oil, citrus zest and spices:

 

 

then we brought everything together, adding the peas, pineapple and the cooked pasta:

 

 

As I said before, this colorful salad looked great, and was a festive treat for the eyes, belying the cool, gray day outside:

 

 

We served this with http://foodsoftheworld.activeboards.net/forum_posts.asp?TID=1867&title=hawaiian-grilled-pork-chops - Hawaiian grilled pork chops :

 

 

And really enjoyed it!

 

The fresh citrus tastes were perfect for the ham and the pineapple in the saald, and the vegetables and pasta made this a nice, light salad side dish for the savory pork chops.

 

 

This is another one of those easy-to-make recipes that will always deliver and never disappoint!

I think we'll do a Polynesian influenced cookout soon so we can give this a whirl.

 

Seemed to have miss this pasta salad, however, better late than never as the saying goes. I had been wondering where to post a truly lovely Coconut Orange Cake ... so thanks to the Coconut Orange Cake of Eva´s, my Mom.

 

Lovely recipe. Shall certainly brighten up a dreary rainy grey day in Madrid for a starter.

 

Thanks for the contribution and great pictorial and simple instructions.

 

We usually use Barilla brand Lazos ( butterflies or bow tie shaped pasta ) for our pasta salads, regular and spinach green combined. This shall be quite rainbow.

 

The sun is finally coming out after 4 days of non stop downpour ... however, it is so  very dry here, and we truly needed the rain to cleanse up some of the terrible smog Madrid has.

 

Have nice Sunday.

Marge.