Recently I made a side salad to go with a sandwich lunch for a group. I had planned on potato salad but changed to macaroni salad to avoid peeling potatoes. I don’t have much of a history with macaroni salad, so I turned to cookbooks for guidance. In the end I chose one from a Cook’s Illustrated cookbook. Based on the fact that I am a pasta salad snob, I figured that I needed a tutorial for the macaroni version.
I truly dislike any starch salad, pasta or potato, that is bland, too sweet, has overcooked or limp vegetables in it or is watery. And, unfortunately, too many fit this bill. It’s funny, but the problem starts at the get-go with unseasoned or under-seasoned water. Marcella Hazan recommends that for every pound of pasta, you use 4 quarts of water and 2 tablespoons of salt. Otherwise, you will end up adding too much salt to the dressing trying to over-correct your under-seasoning of the pasta.
Too hard? Too soft?
How long to cook the pasta is an issue for many. Al dente (slightly chewy) may be perfect when mixed with hot sauce in a pan or cooked in the oven, but is much too hard when chilled and eaten. Over-cooked produces limp, soggy pasta that will break down quickly. I don’t have a pat answer, but just try your best to get it perfect. Start by following the directions on the box. When done, pour into a colander and then rinse with cold water to stop the cooking and also remove extra starch. You don’t do this with hot pasta.
A neat trick I learned from Cook’s Illustrated is to drain the noodles and then put them on a couple of layers of paper towels on a baking pan in one layer. Let them dry for three minutes and then roll the macaroni in the paper towels before mixing with the other ingredients. This made such a difference. The pasta was dry and didn’t carry any unwanted moisture to the bowl.
I had never added hard-boiled eggs to my macaroni salad, but did this time because the recipe told me to. I loved the sort of bulkiness and color it added. The recipe called for chopped sweet pickles, and I used some I had put up last year. They were very sweet, but also very crisp. I chopped the other vegetables quite small, as I like to try and get some of each ingredient in every bite. I went heavy on the chopped parsley and loved it as well. Again, the color improved and it added an herbal note to the taste.
When it comes to mayonnaise, I am a Hellman’s girl, but I think Duke’s would be perfect for this salad, as it has no sugar taste. Lemon juice kept the dressing from being too cloying and added a fresh taste.
I admit that I was surprised that the salad was such a hit, but as I break it down as I did here, I can see that, as with most recipes that seem simple or that we take for granted, you can elevate a dish just by using the very best ingredients, being careful with your technique and tasting as you go.
MACARONI SALAD
Serves 8-10 (generously)
Salt
1 pound elbow macaroni
1/4 small red onion, minced (2-3 tablespoons)
3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and diced small
1/4 cup minced sweet pickles
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
1/4 cup juice from 1 or 2 large lemons
1 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard (note: I also added whole grain mustard)
Ground black pepper
MACARONI SALAD WITH CHIPOTLES AND CILANTRO
From the above recipe, omit hard-boiled eggs, sweet pickles, parsley and mustard.
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