Wednesday, June 1, 2011

[HOH Recipe Box]: Garbage Salad

Do not be alarmed, fair readers - the name of this dish should not deter you from reading further.

Garbage Salad is, in my life anyway, the stuff of legends. My mother has been making it for as many summers as I can remember, and I look forward to the first garbage salad of the season - without fail - each May. It's not for everyone (my esteemed pal Dena is no fan), but for those of you who think it might be up your alley, you simply must give it a whirl.

Ingredients:
1 lb. regular pasta (NOT whole wheat, has to be plain, and some sort of short macaroni style - whatever you fancy).
1 package frozen green peas
1 pt. cherry/grape tomatoes
6-8 hard boiled eggs
2 cans chunk light tuna in water
1 c. mayo (or so, depends on how moist you like your pasta salad)
Salt and Pepper

To Do:
1. Set water to boil, do the pasta thing as per usual.
2. When the pasta is pretty much cooked, dump the bag of peas into the pasta water (with pasta still in it) to quickly thaw/cook them. Strain pasta/peas and run some cold water over to bring the temp down and avoid overcooking
3. Hard boil eggs (I like the 10 minute method - cover eggs with cold water, set on high heat to boil and once they start boiling shut the heat off and let them sit for 10 minutes - never fails)
4. Halve your tomatoes (makes for easier forking)
5. Drain tuna, separate with fork into mixing bowl
6. Combine everything, starting with a little over 1/2 c of mayo and adding gradually to desired creaminess.
7. Salt and Pepper to taste.

Sure, the ingredients are totally pedestrian. Sure, it may be close to some other tuna macaroni salad you've had before. Sure, the combination of eggs and tuna weirds some people out.

None of this matters. Garbage salad is summer cookout perfection on a plate. Serve it up for your next bbq and I guarantee you'll have many, many fans.

1 comment:

  1. Are you kidding me?! Who in the world wouldn't like this?! I mean, Mayo, eggs, tuna, pasta, tomato, peas! Thanks for sharing this -- all of those items are fairly staples in my diet. You've just given me a way of liking them all at once!

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