A Simple but Good Macaroni Salad Recipe

Well, my friend Dana K wrote from southern France that while my food descriptions sound enticing, I don't actually give recipes. In truth, I thought the descriptions implied the recipes. But in case they don't, I'll add an occasional detail.

Tonight it's my daughter-in-law Sara's birthday. She's currently a Gorman, so that means we treat her well. And my son Italo loves her, so she gets treated extra well. And, I think she's pretty cool and she's the mom of my first granddaughter, Taylor Rain, so that's extra special.

Anyway, everybody was working tonight so there can't be a big party with volleyball or soccer. And Madeleina nixed the idea that I put fire crackers in the cake instead of candles--which I thought was horrible but brilliant if you want to start a food fight. So none of that fun. Instead, Sara asked for ribs.

So I bought a couple of packs of baby backs, cut them in half, put them on celery/onion in pyrex baking dishes. Tossed them in olive oil/minced fresh garlic, butcher ground black pepper and really really good sea salt. Put them in the oven at 290 degrees F.

Then we left to go to the store.

We came back an hour and a half later, poured off the rib fat, put on a glaze of good bar-be-que sauce (store bought but started with fresh back bacon in olive oil/garlic/onion/tomato/schallots so it had some real zing. Then I lowered the temp to 190 F, so slow slow cook the remaining fat away.

So that's the ribs. If people wanted charcoal grill, I'd take them out now and give them 5 minutes a side to grab the flavor without losing the tenderness.

Then I made the basmati rice we always eat: Two tablespoons or more of fresh chopped garlic that's been sitting in olive oil at least 12 hours at the bottom of the pan. When the garlic is done, add water per rice: You need about 1/2 inch of water over the rice you put in. Put good sea salt into the water and bring to a boil. When it hits boiling, put in rice to about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch below water level, bring back to boil. Cook/stir until rice has absorbed all visible water, then turn down to the lowest fire possible and cover tightly. Cook for maybe 45 minutes or so, open lid, fluff rice, close lid and either continue to cook if still moise (very low temp)_ or turn off pot and let it cook itself out.

Then I made beans. Store bought. A mix of sweet and tart beans but cooked in good back-bacon with garlic/fresh tomatoes, cilantro.

Then I made macaroni salad. Cooked the macaroni. Par-Boiled. Then sauted garlic in olive oil with diced red onions and red pepper with sea salt and black pepper. Then recooked macaroni till 95 percent done, then tossed in the garlic, onions, red pepper/black pepper/sea salt/olive oil mix. Then added mayo, to which I'd whipped in three egg yolks and 3 ounces of white vinegar.

Now I'll wait half an hour to see how it tastes and then season to meet its needs.

So that's a couple of recipes.

Have a good meal, everybody.