Divide and Conquer

Last night was all about divide and conquer when it came to cooking dinner.  Ric was itching to put meat to fire, so I naturally had to come up with some yummy side dishes.  I love these meals when we work together like this!  My only disappointment was that he didn’t make any ribs.  There is always next time!

Ric specifically asked for potato salad, and I know that Solly loves macaroni salad, so I decided on these two.  Last night was also one of those nights that I was not in the mood to be in the kitchen all night both cooking and cleaning, so I opted for a few short cuts.  Please feel free to take them or leave them at your discretion when trying these ideas out.

For the pasta salad, I used the elbow pasta again.  As I was making this for Solly, I went with his favorite.  This recipe couldn’t be much easier.  While the pasta was boiling I chopped all the veggies, for both salads.  For the pasta salad I had sugar snap peas and carrots.  I like to keep the veggies about the same size as the pasta or a little smaller.  (I normally also cut up hard-boiled eggs for this salad, but last night I forgot to add them!).  For the potato salad I used pre-cooked bacon (huge time saver!!!) and green onions.  After I chopped the bacon I microwaved it on a paper towel for thirty seconds to crisp it up.

After the pasta was cooked, I tossed it with ice cubes to cool it down quickly.  If you have time to wait, that works too.  If you wait, make sure and add a little oil so it doesn’t stick together.  The ice melting was all I needed to keep my pasta from sticking.  I then stirred in the veggies and mayo (or spread/dressing of choice).  Check if for salt and pepper and this salad is ready to serve.

For the potato salad, I opted for the cute little assorted potatoes.  One, I think they make a beautiful and colorful salad.  Two, they are so small they cook in a fraction of the time!!!  Once they were cooked through I cut them in half.  I made a quick vinaigrette with red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, and grape seed oil.  I added my bacon and green onions to the vinaigrette then poured it over the potatoes.  Make sure and taste this, mine needed a LOT more salt.  Under-salted potatoes can kill this dish.

About the time I was salting my potato salad; my amazing husband came in with the meat from the grill.  When it comes to meat on fire, he has a serious gift!  I had wanted to stick to my shake I had planned, but just couldn’t with as amazing as his BBQ smelled.  And it was worth every bite!  I am one lucky woman!