picnic food Archives - The Midnight Baker

Classic Pasta Salad

Judith Hannemann — Thu, 23 May 2013 23:00:00 +0000

Classic Pasta Salad

Finally the winter is over and the BBQ season is upon us. Would any BBQ be complete without this classic salad?

This is a salad the eats like a meal!

It can be made with any pasta you wish, of course, but generally a tubular variety is preferred. In this case, I used penne. But good ol’ elbows are the mainstay. Small or medium shells are nice too. If you’d like more chew factor, give gemelli a try! Rotini works too. Heck, all of ’em work!

I like my mac/pasta salads loaded. In addition to the obligatory celery and onion (I use red onion), I just love some black olives, roasted red bell peppers and jalapenos in mine.

Classic Pasta Salad

The dressing is special too. The addition of one ingredient was a tip given to me by my neighbor Sonya B. Her macaroni salad is the thing legends are made of and at one party she gave, where I was naturally diving into her mac salad, I happened to ask her, “What do you do???” And she told me. The secret is simple: dijon mustard and just a whisper so it makes a dressing special, but you can’t make out it’s taste.

So here it is, and if you want to call it your meal, I won’t say no, but it does go great with ribs, burgers, hot dogs…heck…ANYTHING!

Enjoy!

Classic Pasta Salad

4 cups penne cooked (or any pasta of your choice)
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup diced celery
1/4 cup sliced black olives
1/4 cups roasted red bell peppers, julienne
2 tbs chopped fresh chives
2 tbs jalapeno pepper, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Dressing:

1 cup mayonnaise
1 tbs dijon mustard
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sugar

Mix all salad ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together all the dressing ingredients.

Stir just enough of the dressing (you don’t have to use all of it) to coat the pasta.

Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, about 1 hour

Makes 8 servings.

Classic Pasta Salad

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Mexicali Chipotle Potato Salad

Judith Hannemann — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 23:00:00 +0000

Mexicali Chipolte Potato Salad

What a great way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Great flavor combo of chipotlee, lime and cilantro.

Chipotle For Cinco de Mayo

The secret to this fabulous potato salad is the chipotle dressing.

It uses the Traditional Chipotle flavor of Herdez® Mexican Cooking Sauces and you can do more with cooking sauce than just cook in it.

I wanted to develop something for the Herdez® people that was a little out of the ordinary with their Mexican sauces because I’ve always loved the smoky flavor of chipotle and it goes so nicely with potatoes.

Say OLE to this potato salad

As Cinco de Mayo may even start the BBQ and picnic season in some regions (not mine LOL) here is the perfect accompaniment for your outdoor meal.

The addition of hard-cooked egg (or garbanzos if you want to go vegan) actually makes this a complete meal.

The Recipe

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Mexicali Chipolte Potato Salad

The secret to this fabulous potato salad is the chipotle dressing.

Prep Time15

Total Time15

Course: salads

Cuisine: Mexican

Keyword: CHIPOTLE, potato salad

Servings: 6

Calories: 445kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

2 lbs cooked red potatoes cut in chunks
1/4 cup red onion diced
2 roma tomatoes de-seeded julienne
1/4 cup sweet bell pepper julienne
2 hard-cooked eggs chopped coarsely
1 cup garbanzo beans optional or in place of eggs
1 cup mayonnaise*
1/4 cup Herdez® Traditional Chipotle Mexican Cooking Sauce
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tbsp cilantro minced

Instructions

Mix mayonnaise, Herdez® Traditional Chipolte Mexican Cooking Sauce, lime juice and cilantro in a small bowl. Set aside.
Mix remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Add sauce and stir gently to combine. Cover and chill well before serving.
Makes 6 servings.
*For a vegan salad, omit eggs and substitute vegan mayonnaise for the regular.

Nutrition

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Disclaimer:
I am an Allrecipes Allstar Brand Ambassador (a voluntary position) and I’m not compensated for my work with Allrecipes.com.

Products received from advertiser are only used for experienced-based reviews on The Midnight Baker. The reviews, content and opinions expressed in this blog are purely the sole opinions of The Midnight Baker. This
blog was written in support of Herdez and their Mexican Cooking Sauces.

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Herbed Potato Salad with Pesto Aoli

Judith Hannemann — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 19:56:00 +0000

Herbed Potato Salad

Gourmet twist on a classic potato salad. Potatoes are cooked with a bruised sprig of rosemary in a pressure cooker, as pressure cooking will infuse the rosemary flavor in the potatoes. Potatoes are also cooked and served with skin on for a rustic look.

Dressing is a basic aoli (basically mayonnaise, and you can use that) with pesto added.

Great served with Oven Fried Ranch Chicken

Herbed Potato Salad with Pesto Aoli

2 lbs all-purpose potatoes, well scrubbed
1 – 4-inch sprig of fresh rosemary
1 cup water
1 tsp salt
2 green onions (scallions) sliced thinly
Pesto Aoli:
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tbs prepared pesto*

Place potatoes, rosemary, water & salt in a pressure cooker. Follow directions of your specific pressure cooker for length of time and pressure necessary for cooking potatoes. I used a Wolfgang Puck 7-in-1 Electronic Pressure Cooker and used Vegetable setting for 12 min, releasing pressure immediately after time was up.

Cool potatoes completely in refrigerator.

Make aoli by mixing mayonnaise & pesto together until well blended.

Cut cooled potatoes in 1/2-inch chunks. Add sliced green onion. Add aoli and mix thoroughly. Cover & refrigerate until ready to use.

*I used Robin Ellis’ Pesto recipe

Herbed Potato Salad

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