A HARTE APPETITE: PASTA SALADS ARE FOR MEN, TOO

According to a recent article in Men's Health Magazine, "The masculinity of salads has always been suspect." I suppose it's true that if real men don't eat quiche, they probably shun salads as well, especially to the extent that the word "salad" may conjure up images of dainty luncheons for ladies.

But there is nothing dainty about pasta salads, those robust combinations of noodles, vegetables, and often cheese and meat, bound together by an assertively flavored dressing. When it comes to one of these, making do with a salad for lunch, or possibly dinner, becomes thinkable even to me.

Pasta, of course, is associated with Italy, where they take it very seriously. (There's even a pasta museum, the Museo Storico Degli Spaghetti, in Pontedassio.) But pasta salad is actually more American than Italian. Italians generally prefer their pasta hot and served as a separate course, while cold macaroni salads, the unpretentious precursors of today's pasta salads, have been staples of American cookbooks for years. (The word "macaroni," by the way, immortalized in the song Yankee Doodle, in the 18th century simply meant perfection, a status to which many of today's innovative pasta salads can easily aspire.)

Pasta itself, the main ingredient in pasta salads, has an ancient history. Contrary to popular belief, it was not introduced to Italy by Marco Polo. Some historians say the credit should be given to Sinbad the Sailor. Whatever the case, 3000-year-old extrusion dies for pasta have been discovered in Sicily where residents were making and eating macaroni a couple of thousand years before Marco Polo was even born! (The word "macaroni" may be derived from the Sicilian word "maccarruni" which means to make into a dough by force.) There's even a mention of something called "lasagne" in a cookbook written by the Ancient Roman epicurean Apicius in the first century A.D. (If you'd like to learn more about pasta's origins, shapes, and nutritional properties and are connected to the internet, check out the National Pasta Association's web page whose address is, appropriately enough, www.ilovepasta.org.)

Pasta is no longer considered inherently fattening, but when you make it the basis of a salad you do have to be careful. As Health Magazine notes, because pasta congeals as it cools you may have a tendency to overcompensate with oil or mayonnaise. Moreover, since cold mutes flavor, you might be tempted to add too many high fat ingredients as a taste booster. The magazine recommends instead going easy on the dressing and overdoing it on vegetables and herbs.

In addition to these considerations, I suggest three more. First, make sure you don't overcook the pasta, a shame in any circumstance but particularly unfortunate with pasta salad. Cook the pasta only to the "al dente" (to the tooth) stage which means it is still firm to the bite and chewy, not mushy. Ignore the directions on the pasta box and use your own judgment, tasting the pasta during the cooking process. In my experience, the box almost always overstates the amount of time required to properly cook pasta.

Second, rinse the pasta in cold water. Normally this is a procedure you should avoid with just about any other pasta dish, but it's necessary when preparing a salad to keep the pasta from cooking further.

Third, choose your brand of pasta carefully. Some cooks claim that any brand is fine and maybe that's true for most things (though I doubt it), but it most assuredly is not when it comes to pasta. This doesn't mean that you have to pay high prices for so-called gourmet pasta, but it does mean that you will find significant differences among various labels, especially according to price. Pasta is cheap anyway, so I recommend spending a few extra pennies on a name brand that you can trust.

Keep these tips in mind as you prepare the following recipes for concoctions whose masculinity will never be questioned. Though salads, they are decidedly "macho."

Lebanese Spaghetti Salad

This recipe was sent to me by Wayne Davenport, Southeast Missouri State University's Vice President for University Advancement and Executive Director of the University Foundation (a title as long as a strand of homemade spaghetti) who with his wife, Julie, recently moved to Cape Girardeau from Little Rock, Ark. "This is one of the very best cold pasta salads we have ever run across," says Wayne. "When available it disappears long before a dent is made in any other salad alongside it." Wayne got the recipe several years ago from a friend, Barbara Bateman, when he was living in Pittsburg, Kansas.

Ingredients:

1 box (10 oz.) vermicelli spaghetti cooked and drained

1/2 cup sweet pickle juice

2 cloves garlic

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon celery salt

1 teaspoon caraway seeds

1 bottle (8 oz.) Wishbone Italian salad dressing

2 stalks celery, chopped fine

1 bunch green onions, chopped fine

2 teaspoons parsley

1 teaspoon poppy seed

Directions:

Mix together, store overnight, stirring every 3-4 hours.

Quick and Easy Pasta Salad

This simple pasta salad recipe from Debbie Cannon, a pre-law major at the university, makes a big hit any time she brings a batch of it into the Speech Department where she used to work as a secretary. Debbie recommends adding shrimp or other vegetables if you want to dress up the salad even more. I suspect some cheese cubes wouldn't hurt either.

Ingredients:

4 cups pasta shells

1 package ranch dressing mix

3-4 large carrots, grated

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup mayonnaise

Directions:

Combine the mix, mayonnaise, and milk. Add peas and carrots. Cook shells, drain, and combine all ingredients. Chill.

Vermicelli with Salami and Cheese

This recipe from Sunset Magazine has been a favorite at our house for years. In addition to being delicious, it's highly versatile. It can be served as a salad in summertime or baked and served as a main dish casserole in wintertime.

Ingredients:

8 oz. vermicelli or spaghetti

1 jar (6 oz) marinated artichoke hearts

1/3 cup salad oil

1/3 cup white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon oregano leaves

1 teaspoon dry basil

1/4 teaspoon dry rosemary

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 cloves minced garlic

1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard

1 medium-size carrot, finely diced

1 small zucchini, finely diced

1 package (3 oz.) sliced salami, julienned

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Cook pasta, drain. In large bowl drain marinade from artichoke hearts. To bowl add oil, vinegar, oregano, basil, rosemary, pepper, garlic, mustard and noodles, stirring together. Mix in remaining ingredients along with artichoke hearts. To serve cold, line bowl with lettuce leaves, spoon mixture into center, garnish with tomato wedges, and chill. To serve hot, spoon mixture into ungreased shallow 3-quart casserole, cover, and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. Uncover and top with 1/4 cup more Parmesan cheese and bake 15 minutes longer until center is hot.

Got a recipe you'd like to share with our readers? Are you looking for a recipe for something in particular? Send your recipes and requests to A Harte Appetite, c/o The Southeast Missourian, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, MO., 63702-0699 or by e-mail to tharte@semovm.semo.edu.

~Tom Harte is a professor at Southeast Missouri State University and writes a food column every other week for the Southeast Missourian.