The other day I had lunch at Metropolitan Market over on Proctor and enjoyed a nice little spread from their deli section. For some reason I was drawn to the macaroni salad, despite having never really enjoyed macaroni salad all that much in the past. It was delicious and I kind of forgot about it. A few days after that Tieka posted a picture on instagram of some macaroni salad and all of a sudden I was like MUST MAKE MACARONI SALAAAAD. I have no clue where this deep craving of macaroni salad came from, but I wanted all of the macaroni salad. I looked up a few recipes to see what the general method to the madness was, and walked to the store to procure necessities.
This is a super quick recipe to make, and most of the ingredients seem like stuff you likely have laying around in the pantry/fridge. Since picnic/barbecue season is upon us, this is a great recipe to whip up super quick to take to a cookout. It only takes about a half hour to make, so it's a good recipe if you're in a time crunch, or totally forgot to make something for a potluck but don't want to run to the store and grab something from the pre-made section.
I think I may have sated my macaroni salad cravings now, but at least I now know how to make it from scratch if the urge to consume mass quantities of it ever arise again.
Total time: appx 30 min
Ingredients:
2 cups dry elbow macaroni, cooked, rinsed, and drained
1/3 cup diced celery
1/4 cup diced onion
1/3 green pepper, seeded and diced
1/2 cup diced tomato
1/2 cup prepared mayonnaise
3/4 teaspoon ground mustard
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar
3 tablespoons sour cream
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
1. Cook your macaroni, as the package directs. While the macaroni is cooking, prepare all your other ingredients (dice veggies, gather mayo, etc).
2. Once you've finished preparing the macaroni, combine the macaroni, celery, onion, pepper and tomato in a large bowl.
3. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, dijon, ground mustard, sugar, vinegar, sour cream and salt. Pour over the salad and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste. You can store the macaroni covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
