County Fairs are great and the classic country fare sold at them couldn’t be fresher, but here’s a couple of recipes that’ll shake up the country ladies and gents a bit! It’s got flavor the folks will be talking about from 2 counties over!
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 25 min |
| Prep: | 10 min |
| Cook: | 15 min |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 25 min |
| Prep: | 10 min |
| Cook: | 15 min |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 pound macaroni elbows or cavatappi corkscrew shaped hollow pasta
- Salt
- 1 cup frozen corn, defrosted
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 small red onion, chopped
- 4 ribs celery, chopped
- Black pepper
- 8-ounce brick Monterey pepper jack cheese, diced
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, eyeball it
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, eyeball it
- 1 cup store bought tomatillo salsa (mild, green) or chipotle salsa (hot, smoky red)
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves or flat-leaf parsley
Instructions
- Bring water to a boil, salt it and add pasta.
- While pasta water is coming up to a boil and cooking, combine corn, pepper, onion and celery in a bowl with pepper Jack cheese. Season the veggies with salt and pepper.
- Run pasta under cold water to cool it and drain it well. Add pasta to vegetables and cheese.
- Place vinegar in a small bowl and whisk in extra-virgin olive oil, then fold in salsa. Pour sauce over salad and toss to coat evenly. Garnish salad with cilantro or parsley and serve.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 4 servings |
| Calories | 828 |
| Total Fat | 33 g |
| Saturated Fat | 13 g |
| Carbohydrates | 102 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 7 g |
| Sugar | 9 g |
| Protein | 32 g |
| Cholesterol | 50 mg |
| Sodium | 884 mg |
| Serving Size | 1 of 4 servings |
| Calories | 828 |
| Total Fat | 33 g |
| Saturated Fat | 13 g |
| Carbohydrates | 102 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 7 g |
| Sugar | 9 g |
| Protein | 32 g |
| Cholesterol | 50 mg |
| Sodium | 884 mg |
Reviews
Always love Rachel Ray cooking suggestions!!
Thank you for sharing.
G
My husband and I both really enjoyed this salad. I did listen to other reviewers and only made half the recipe. It made more than plenty. Unlike other reviewers, I thought it tasted great the next day.
this is a wonderful new twist to the common mac salad with mayo. If the recipe is followed correctly it will be very good. If you change it and add different things or leave an ingredient out it won’t be the same. I get a kick out of people that do that and then say they don’t like it.
Just made this for dinner tonight along with the rest of the menu from this show. The hardest part is keeping my husband from scarfing it up before we have dinner– he loves it! It makes a *ton*– and I even cut the recipe in half– but we both thought it’ll be great for lunch!
To those who said it was bland: In most recipes it’s either stated or implied “Salt and Pepper, to taste”. Ergo, if it tastes bland, add S&P.
I really like this salad. I made it for all our family get togethers and everyone loves it! Great for the summer time because it’s not loaded with mayo and can sit outside for a period of time.
Made this for the 4th of July BBQ, added tomato’s and fresh jalapeno’s .Nice change for macaroni salad!!!
This is one of my familys favorite salads. I like it becauase it is super easy to put together.
I like pasta salads without mayo and found this one one of the best. Bought plain jack cheese by mistake so I added a couple of shakes of tobasco sause to the dressing. One pound of elbow maccaroni is quite a lot. Made double the recipe for the dressing and used lime juice instead of red wine vinegar, made more sence to me for the tex-mex flavor. not crazy for celantro but used small amount and liked it. Will make this type of salad a number of times this summer and change some vegies to make different.
i was looking for recipes for pasta salad for tailgating at a concert and stumbled upon this one… boy am i glad i did! this is something everyone will love. has a mexican flair to it. i added a can of black beans, 2 small cans of black olives (because i love olives 🙂 ) and green onion b/c i had it. i think any salsa would go great with this although i was lucky enough to find a chipotle one. thanks Rachel for making food fun to prepare and cook for crowds!
I had bought pepper jack cheese for another recipe and forgot to use it, so I checked out Food Network for another recipe and found this one. This pasta salad is absolutely delicious! It also looks fantastic to put on a table with all the colors. I don’t mind spice, but my husband doesn’t like things overly spicy, and this fit the bill. Looking forward to making this again, but will try to use a lower fat cheese to cut down on the calories.