Every Family has the Favorite Holiday or event dishes. For us it is a Pasta Dish. For my Youngest son it is Dads Amazing Macaroni Salad. I thought I made it the same way everyone else did, then discovered thats not so. I guess he has tried many others, and said it is not the same. Even my wife said, it is not the same as others.
Does not matter what Holiday it is, who is having a Birthday, or what the reason to get together is. The first thing my son asks is if I am going to make that Amazing Macaroni Salad. Now and then I tease him and say, no I was not planning it, but I cannot torture him like that and always break down. It is one of his favorite dishes, so it is always yes.
Is it the Pasta? Maybe. is it the mix of Mayo, mustard, tuna, eggs? Maybe. one thing for sure, it is a table favorite no matter what we are celebrating or why we are dining together, and it is always finished. Note: on the rare occassion there is some left over, my Son takes that home with him. After all, it was made for him, right.
Everyone has different tastebuds and differrent favorites, so I have 2 recipes for this pasta dish actually. My daughter likes one and my son likes the other. But they enjoy both, just have their favorite when they have a choice. Sometimes I make both. Yes, I am that kind of Dad.
One day, well after my son moved out and was raising his own Family, we were planning a Thanksgiving meal, and my son called and asked that magic question. Are you making your Amazing Macaroni Salad Dad? He wanted his boys to experience his favorite pasta dish at Grandpas house and that just tickled me to my core. Now it is not just his favorite, it is one of their favorites and I have a 3rd recipe. One that is more kid friendly.
So lets start off with the Ingredients for this Amazing Macaroni Salad now:
- Get one or two boxes of Elbow macaroni noodles (or your favorite pasta)
- one jar of Dukes Matonaise ( or Salad Dressing for recipe 2 )
- one bottle of frenchs mustard
- one onion
- 4 hard boiled eggs
- one or two large cans of Tuna (packed in water)
I am sure you already guessed. The 3rd recipe for the kids is leaving out the onion. Kid friendly means no raw onions. All kids love a pasta dish, I choose to use imported pasta from Italy, which is not loaded with all of the American extra. I will leave it at that. But years ago it was always Muellers. Kids love a pasta dish and if it is not covered with cheese or sauce, mayo is the next best thing. but the mix of flavors makes it so they cannot even pick the flavor they like the most.
So Boil your pasta, get it to the texture you like. We dont like too firm and nobody likes moosh, but you know yours. as soon as you strain them, put them in a large bowl and toss into the fridge to cool off. Now get your mayo, mustard, onion and boiled eggs, Tuna and get ready to start mixing it all together. There is just something special about the taste when you mix, May, Mustard, Tuna Fish, boiled eggs, and chopped raw onion pieces, and add in Pasta.
Chop that onion, or half of it, into small dice like pieces. toss in your bowl. Chop your boiled eggs up into small pieces and throw them in the bowl. Get that chilled pasta, dump it in your large bowl and mix it up. when it looks even, start adding in the Dukes Mayo. ( or salad dressing for the other kid ) start with two or 3 large spoons, add as needed to get everything cover well with Mayo.
Now add in some mustard. we are not trying to change the color, but just an even tint. add to your liking. Yes, that means taste, stir more, taste again, get it to where you like the taste. One last step. add that can or two of Tuna into your bowl and mix till even looking. And yes taste some more.
Put this dish, covered, in the refrigerator to get good and chilled before serving it. When you take it out, you will have to add more mayo or salad dressing, depending on which recipe you followed, to get it all evenly wet agin. it does dry our a little in the fridge,
I will add some pictures to this Amazing Macaroni Salad after I make it the next time. Just know that if you want to share a great pasta dish at the next big get together. Make one of these Amazing Macaroni Salad Recipes and share it. Recipe #1 is Mayo, recipe #2 is the same, except Salad dressing. If you want to call without onions recipe #3, great. But I promise it is always the one dish with no leftovers when the kids are here.