Try this versatile tuna pasta salad: serve as an appetizer,

Try this versatile tuna pasta salad: serve as an appetizer, buffet side dish or entree!

While most meats are becoming rather expensive, tuna is still reasonably priced. This makes the tuna pasta salad an economical dish. Better yet, you can serve it as an appetizer, buffet style, as a lunch or dinner side dish or in the starring role as your entree. It's as good in small or large portions, with plenty of interest for your palate.

Our generic tuna pasta salad recipe can be made with several variations, according to your use and preferred seasonings. Let's go through each of the ingredients and see how you can tweak this tuna and pasta salad for any occasion.

You can use tuna, but albacore tuna is of a superior quality and texture, with large chunks of firm white meat. Regular tuns tends to be in smaller shreds, allowing it to get 'lost' in the finished salad. Albacore is recommended for the best texture in a tuna pasta salad. Choose the albacore packed in water, rather than oil. This produces a fresher taste. As for the amount, two 6-ounce cans are sufficient for six entree portions. One can should do it for an appetizer for four servings.

For your pasta, choose those such as penne, small or large shells, curly pastas, tortellini or rigatoni any type with grooves or tubes, which distributes the dressing evenly throughout the salad. This prevents the dressing from overwhelming the flavors of other ingredients. If you're intending the tuna pasta salad as an appetizer or side dish, smaller sized pasta works best. For an entree, larger pasta is a good choice.

Now you'll want to buff up the taste, texture, color and nutritive value with a few veggies, which serves all three purposes, adding piquancy and interest to this simple dish. Some good additions to this tuna pasta salad recipe include sliced green onions, coarsely diced red Spanish onions, sliced and quartered cucumbers and sliced black olives or celery. For added protein, you can add some chopped hard-boiled eggs. You can add all of these ingredients to your tuna pasta salad recipe, or just pick and choose, according to your preference. As a rule of thumb, these additional ingredients should make up about a quarter to a third of the finished salad.

Now to the seasonings. Of the suggested seasonings, tarragon and dill are a perfect match for tuna, but these herbs don't mix well with many others, so if you choose either tarragon or dill, the only other herb you'll want to mix with these 'stand alones', is parsley, as a garnish. Other seasonings that go well with this pasta salad are cilantro, minced garlic, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add about 1 tablespoon of roasted red sweet pepper vinaigrette for an entree, or half that for an appetizer size tuna pasta salad dish.

This recipe also benefits from a couple of tablespoons of finely shaved fresh Parmesan. If you enjoy this cheese, just a little Parmesan adds a subtle complexity of flavor.

To assemble, cut and mix all of your veggies and seasonings in a separate bowl. While you're cutting, cook your pasta and drain. In a large bowl, blend the pasta and veggies together, distributing them evenly throughout the salad. Add mayonnaise, or a 50-50 mix of mayonnaise and sour cream. Add in amounts that you prefer. Blend well, so that the dressing gets into the crevices of the pasta.

Add your albacore last and stir in gently so that the tuna chunks don't break up. Garnish with fresh parsley, cover your finished tuna pasta salad and refrigerate for several hours. This brings out the flavors of the seasonings.

That's all there is to making a delicious and nutritious tuna pasta salad. You might want to expect takers on seconds!