HERE?S a dish you can add to your holiday table: pasta salad sweetened with raisins yet also made tangy with pineapple tidbits. Thousand Island Dressing is a good substitute for mayonnaise. It incorporates all the flavors of mayonnaise and pours easily from the bottle.

Sweet and Tangy Pasta Salad

500 g fusilli pasta
1 c coarsely diced ham (optional)
1 c pineapple tidbits, well drained
1 c raisins
2 c thousand island dressing
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp sugar, optional

Cook pasta according to package directions. Let cool then transfer to a mixing bowl. Add ham (if using), pineapple tidbits and raisins. Pour in thousand island dressing and season with salt, pepper and sugar, if desired.

Toss gently until all ingredients are coated with the dressing.

Tips

Fusilli pasta is spiral-shaped pasta, available in supermarkets. To make the salad more colorful, choose multicolored fusilli.

If fusilli is not available, substitute with any short pasta such as penne or elbow macaroni.
Some brands of Thousand Island dressing may be a bit too sour for Filipino taste. Taste the dressing before you use it on the salad. If it?s too sour, add sugar before tossing with the salad.