I promise.Īnd in just the same way pasta absorbs flavor, it also absorbs liquid. In a few hours, every element will be in perfect, harmonious, and very tasty balance. I know, I know! The red wine vinegar in particular has a pungent kick at first. When you taste this salad just after it’s made, you’ll swear it has too much acidity. In other words, you must over season today to get the perfectly seasoned salad you will eat tomorrow. Tradition doesn’t have to be boring.Īfter years of experimenting with mac salads, there is one thing I know for sure: pasta absorbs seasoning in much the same way that potatoes do. Over the years, the addition of Calamata olives became my personal touch (the original salad featured canned black olives), along with red bell peppers, garlic, and buttermilk-lemon dressing for a zippy tang. Each cook (Grandma Mary or one of my aunts) would give it a slightly different spin, but it was always rich, creamy, and delicious. The macaroni salad offered here is based on one that played an integral part of all of our family picnics when I was a kid. If I don’t bring THIS old-fashioned pasta salad to the 4th of July shindig, I am in BIG trouble. Sometimes tradition is what everyone wants, and the 4th of July seems to be one of those times.

I make a lot of wildly creative pasta salads. And the simple mayonnaise or vinaigrette dressing took on bold new flavor profiles. To give these salads “gourmet” allure, the standard elbow macaroni was replaced with more exotic pasta shapes, such as penne, farfalle, cavatappi, fusilli, radiator, gemili, and conchiglie. At first, the salads were mainly diner and deli side dishes, but eventually they achieved much higher status and became rock stars at the picnic buffet table. America has been having a love affair with pasta salad since at least 1920, when early recipes began appearing in American cookbooks.

Recipe for old fashioned macaroni salad