Macaroni salad was always one of those things I bought pre-packaged at the deli (blech, I know!). The concept seemed simple enough; pasta, veggies, mayonnaise based sauce. But, somehow it always went horribly wrong – managing to be a clumpy gloopy mess, but also still dry. I had given up hope, until I came across a recipe from a source I can always trust.
In Hawaii, where macaroni salad is a staple when it comes to plate lunches, it’s been a long known secret that you intentionally overcook the pasta – to make it “fat”. It helps it to really soak up the sauce, and keep the pasta moist and delicious. It makes a large batch that is perfect to take to a cookout. Or, for a simple dinner at home with some grilled barbequed chicken. Leftovers were great too! With a little grilled tuna or chicken, and some diced fresh pineapple tossed it – made for an awesome lunch.
Hawaiian Macaroni Salad
2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups mayonaise
1 tablespoon brown sugar
salt and pepper
1 pound elbow macaroni
1/2 cup cider vinegar
4 scallions, sliced thin
1 large carrot, peeled and grated
1 celery rib, chopped fine
To make dressing, whisk 1-1/2 cups milk, 1 cup mayonnaise, brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 2 teaspoons black pepper in a bowl.
Bring 4 quarts water to a boil in large pot. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and pasta and cook until very soft, about 15 minutes. Drain pasta and return to pot. Add vinegar and toss until absorbed. Transfer to a bowl. Cool pasta 10 minutes,then stir in dressing until pasta is well coated. Cool completely.
Add scallions, carrot, celery, remaining 1/2 cup milk and remaining 1/2 cup of mayonnaise to pasta mixture and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 2 days. Serve.
Source: Cook’s Country, June 2009
3 Comments
This looks exactly like the kind of macaroni salad my brother lived on when he was little. My grandmother fixed it just for him because he was SUCH finicky eater…but we all loved it. She would burn the top macroni just a bit so they were crunch and we would get to pick off the crunchy macaronis!
Quadrupled this recipe to serve a big crowd at our church’s Hawaiian Christmas party. It was perfect! (And our native Hawaiian taste-testers said it was pretty authentic, too.) Thanks so much for posting!
I’m so glad you liked it Jennifer! Thanks for the kind comment.