Sometimes when we’ll come home on a hot summer day, a pasta salad is just the quick & easy meal to dish up!
It can be made the night before, so it will be nice & cold, or it can be made right on the spot!
Note: This pasta salad has no mayonnaise, so it’s also great as a potluck dish, where it might be out on the table for a while!
First, cook 1 pound of pasta until al dente (not mushy, just done). Rotini, also called rotelle, work well for this salad! Elbows or small shells are also very good!
Drain pasta & rinse in cold water, then refrigerate until ready to use.
INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup canola oil (the heart-healthy oil found along with all the other oils in the supermarket!)
1/2 of a lemon’s worth of juice
1 teaspoon horseradish
2 dashes balsamic vinegar
salt to taste
VEGETABLES:
Please note: The vegetables can be varied according to what you may have on hand! I like to add a variety of different colors & textures (some juicy & some crunchy)!
1 tomato, cubed
1 red pepper, diced
1 cucumber, diced or cubed
1 grated or diced carrot
1 cup of corn
8 to 10 olives of any kind, sliced (too many olives will dominate the whole salad–I start out with less & then add more as needed!)
fresh chives or other herbs, finely sliced
1 clove or more crushed garlic
Place pasta into a large bowl & mix in vegetables & then dressing ingredients…
Then, just adjust salt, oil, & vinegar to taste!
(If the pasta salad gets too salty, you can always add some more vegetables such as cucumber or tomato or carrot, or even a little bit of cold water to cut the salt a bit!)
If there is time, refrigerate to cool…otherwise, it’s just in time for dinner!
Enjoy!
love,
Clay Ball
Seala discovered her favorite food on this Earth: The amazing potato!
For a large bowl-full of this potato salad, we’ll first wash & peel the 5-pound bag of potatoes. Then cut lengthwise into halves & then quarters. Cube each quarter into bite-sized pieces.
Then, place the potatoes in a large pot, cover with water, & add some salt.
Cover with the lid, but keep one eye on it so it won’t boil over!
Turn the heat medium-to-high to bring to a boil, & then you can turn the heat down a little so the potatoes are at a nice medium boil. Boil the potatoes until they are medium in consistency–no longer hard, but still firm–definitely not mushy!
As they cool, they will still soften a little bit, so cook them until they are just slightly firmer than how you like your potato salad…
In the meantime, prepare the dressing…
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon mustard
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon horseradish
2 cloves garlic, crushed or very finely diced
1 or 2 sliced scallions
plenty of salt & freshly ground black pepper
Mix the dressing in a large bowl or wide-mouthed Ball jar or tall measuring cup, so you can freely stir without splatters everywhere!
Then, add the dressing to the potatoes. It is fine if the potatoes are still hot or warm!
Now, you will need to adjust for taste…add more salt, or whatever flavor you think will enhance the potatoes…more oil, mustard, or horseradish, vinegar or garlic? Each time we make it, it seems to needs a little something extra!
If the sauce seems too thick or the potatoes too dry, or if the flavor is too salty, you can just add some of the potato water we set aside. (Note, if the potato water itself is quite salty, just add some regular water if trying to tone down the saltiness of the salad.)
We usually add quite a bit of potato water, 1 or more cups. It is okay if the salad is a little saucy in the bottom of the bowl!
Then add about 3 chopped large tomatoes! This will give the salad lots of juiciness.
Garnish with some tomato & sliced green scallions or chives…
You can serve the salad warm on a cooler day,
or let it cool down a bit & then refrigerate for several hours for a refreshing summer meal!
When you take your salad out of the fridge, it may have absorbed the water & be a little dry, so you may want to add some water, tomatoes, or maybe some salt, oil or garnish to freshen it up again!
It is especially delicious the next day!
Enjoy!
love,
Clay Ball
Organic potatoes are the healthiest, but are a bit more expensive, maybe $5 for a 5-pound bag at a Whole Foods, for example, instead of $3 , $2, sometimes even 99 cents for 5 pounds of conventionally grown potatoes at the regular supermarket! So get what you can afford. If they are conventionally grown, I peel the potatoes for most recipes. For organic potatoes, I often like to leave the skin on for flavor & texture!
copy & print version below!
Clay Ball’s Simple Potato Salad
1. For a large bowl-full of this potato salad, we’ll first wash & peel the 5-pound bag of potatoes. Then cut lengthwise into halves & then quarters. Cube each quarter into bite-sized pieces. Then, place the potatoes in a large pot, cover with water, & add some salt. Cover with the lid, but keep one eye on it so it won’t boil over!
Turn the heat medium-to-high to bring to a boil, & then you can turn the heat down a little so the potatoes are at a nice medium rolling boil. Boil the potatoes until they are medium in consistency–no longer hard, but definitely not mushy!
As they cool, they will still soften a little bit, so cook them until they are just slightly firmer than how you like your potato salad…
2. In the meantime, you can prepare the dressing…
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon mustard
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon horseradish
garlic 2 cloves, crushed or very finely diced
1 or 2 sliced scallions
plenty of salt & freshly ground black pepper
Mix the dressing in a large bowl or wide-mouthed Ball jar or tall measuring cup, so you can freely stir without splatters everywhere!
3. Then, add the dressing to the potatoes. It is fine if the potatoes are still hot or warm!
Now, you will need to adjust for taste…add more salt, or whatever flavor you think will enhance the potatoes…more oil, mustard, or horseradish, vinegar or garlic?
If the sauce seems too thick or the potatoes too dry, or if the flavor is too salty, you can just add some of the potato water we set aside. (Note, if the potato water itself is quite salty, just add regular water.) We usually add quite a bit of potato water, 1 or more cups. It is okay if the salad is a little saucy in the bottom of the bowl!
Then add about 3 chopped large tomatoes! This will give the salad lots of juiciness.
Garnish with some tomato & sliced green scallions or chives.
You can serve the salad warm on a cooler day, or let it cool down a bit & then refrigerate for several hours for a refreshing summer meal!
When you take your salad out of the fridge, it may have absorbed the water & be a little dry, so you may want to add some water, tomatoes, or maybe some salt, oil or garnish to freshen it up again!
It is especially delicious the next day!
Enjoy!
love,
Clay Ball
