Creamy Rainbow Pasta Salad

This is one of those salads that tastes better the next morning. Pasta soaks up a little of the creamy lemon dressing as it rests in the fridge, and the vegetables soften just enough to blend in without going limp. If you have the time, make it the night before you plan to eat it.

Bow-tie pasta, the little pinched shapes also called farfalle, is a good choice for a salad like this. The folds and pinched middles catch bits of dressing and chopped pepper, so every forkful gets a bit of everything. Leaving the salt out of the pasta water is deliberate here, since the dressing is already seasoned with black pepper and a touch of sugar, and it keeps the salad from tasting too salty once it chills.

Bell peppers are worth a closer look. The red and orange ones are the same fruit as the green pepper, just picked later, so they have more sweetness and more of the bright, fruity flavor you notice in this bowl. Cucumber and red onion add a cool crunch that holds up well over a day in the fridge. Give the onion a quick rinse under cold water if its bite is too sharp for you.

A few things I like to keep in mind when I make it. Let the pasta cool fully before you add the dressing, or the mayonnaise will go thin and oily. Store the salad in a covered container in the refrigerator, and plan to eat it within a day or two. Stir it once before serving, because the dressing settles toward the bottom. If it looks a little dry the second day, a spoonful of plain milk or an extra squeeze of lemon will loosen it up.

For a lunch that fills the plate, pair a bowl of this with a Herbed Mayo Salmon with Roasted Green Beans, which echoes the same mayonnaise and lemon in a warm main. It also sits happily next to Chicken Salad Wraps with Field Greens if you want a sandwich-style lunch on the side.