Summer Confetti Macaroni Salad!

This is one of those recipes that takes me longer to post than it does to make. You can add whatever you like, but I've found that when taking this to a gathering, simple usually gets more attention than complex. Know what I mean? :)

Eight servings

Ingredients:

1- 16 ounce box macaroni

4 tablespoons Duke's mayonnaise

2 teaspoons lemon zest

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 small tomato, seeded and chopped

1 small bell pepper, seeded and chopped

Bring 6 cups water to boil in a large pot. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 teaspoon sea salt to the water and add the macaroni. Stir gently throughout cooking time. Boil until it's just tender. 

I like to remove the macaroni with a Chinese strainer like the one pictured above, instead of draining it in a colander. This method prevents the pasta from drying out too much, therefore using less mayo.

Immediately after straining the pasta, while it's still warm, place it into a large bowl and add the lemon zest and seasonings. Even though you're going to chill the macaroni, it takes the dressing and seasoning better while it's still warm.

Add the mayonnaise and stir until it's well blended. Now pop it into the fridge while you prepare the vegetables.

Seed the pepper and slice it into thin strips.

Chop the strips into small pieces.

Remove the seeds from the tomato.

Slice it into strips.

Chop the strips into pieces.

Add the vegetables to the salad and refrigerate until serving. It won't hurt it at all to keep this refrigerated until the next day. That will let the flavors meld even more.

This is a great summer time diversion from the regular fries when serving burgers and it's also a wonderful side dish for the stacked bltocp sandwich, a great idea for those weekend brunches!