tuna noodle salad Archives - Good Food St. Louis

Favorite Summer Salads

June 28, 2023

We’re nearing the 4th of July weekend. I always think of John Adam’s proposition that it should be celebrated “with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sport, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of the continent to the other.”

Though he alludes to fireworks, he neglected to include summer salads in the celebration. So I picked out a few I’m looking forward to enjoying. 🙂

The Original La Scala Chopped Salad

Blog Readers’ Favorite:

After nearly 10 years of food blogging, you might be interested in knowing what the top two recipes are for readers of GoodFoodSTL. The one for Bourbon Balls soars during the Christmas season. But the year-round favorite is La Scala’s Chopped Salad. So I’m posting it again along with the history of the salad.

The Celebrity Salad:

The culinary masterpiece was introduced in the 50s by Chef Jean Leon at La Scala Boutique in Beverly Hills. The tasty dish combined two kinds of lettuce, salami, chickpeas, and cheese.

Over the years, the salad has been nibbled on by celebs such as Elizabeth Taylor, Julia Roberts, and Leonardo DiCaprio, as well as JFK. La Scala still features the original version.

Secret Ingredient:

The recipe below is the one published in the LA Times many years ago. The secret ingredient in the vinaigrette dressing was purported to be the dry mustard. According to Chef Leon’s daughter, the original was hard to eat so the salad was chopped into small bite-size pieces. Pull out your mezzaluna and get to rockin’. This one’s a keeper.

Tuna Noodle Salad

Years ago my friend, Ethel, and I attended a wedding reception, where this Tuna Noodle Salad was served. We loved the hearty mixture of noodles, veggies, tuna, and cheese and asked for the recipe. After that, we made it many times, always referring to the dish as John’s Wedding Salad.

The marriage didn’t last, but the salad has been a keeper. It’s a flexible salad, that you can add more, or less, of the ingredients as you prefer. Beware: This is a dish that you’ll dip into every time you open the refrigerator door.

Tomato Caprese

Tomatoes will soon be abundant enough to serve in any way we choose. There’s nothing that compares to a vine-ripened tomato to brighten a meal. Tomato Caprese is easy, colorful, and ohh, so delicious.

Basil Vinaigrette

I often served this basil vinaigrette on salads at the Governor’s Mansion. It was our most requested recipe.

Basil Vinaigrette has been my very-most-favorite dressing for years. I plant basil in my rock garden every year just to have this treat for my salads. I included it in my cookbook Christmas at the Mansion.

Happy Fourth of July! Enjoy your salads.

Tuna Noodle, the Comfort Salad

May 24, 2022

Tuna Noodle Salad

Salad Daze

As I was tidying up my recipe file, I came upon a 70-ish recipe for Tuna Noodle Salad. It originated at Clementine’s, an upscale cafe in LA. I found it reprinted in the NYT, here.

I realized it was almost identical to the one I’ve made for years. I smiled recalling that friends and neighbors always referred to it as “John’s Wedding Salad,” because it was served at a wedding many of us attended. The marriage didn’t last, but the salad has remained a party favorite of those who enjoyed it that day.

Oodles of Noodles

This is one of those salads that’s even better the second day. But it’s also a “fridge nibbler,” a dish that you can’t resist stealing a bite from, when you open the refrigerator door.

Adding Your Own Touch

There are some small differences in the two recipes. The NYT uses cornichons and the wedding salad uses sweet pickles. They also throw in a bit of chowchow, which would certainly do no harm.

The NYT caps off their version of the salad with a handful of cheese chunks.

Room for Improvement

When making a macaroni salad, most of us toss together cooked noodles, mayo, and seasonings. What more could there be to success? But the cooks at America’s Test Kitchen are always trying to improve on our favorite dishes.

Their persistent testers found that just a few, easy “tricks” can enhance the taste and consistency of traditional macaroni salad (with or without the tuna.)

Advice from the ATK Pros

Instead of draining the cooked noodles completely, leave a little dampness. The macaroni will absorb the extra water and make the consistency perfect. If the salad dries out after sitting too long, add a bit more water rather than more mayo.
In addition to the onion, celery, parsley, Dijon mustard, cayenne and lemon juice, testers suggested a bit of garlic powder. Real garlic, they said, was too harsh.
The testers also found that tossing the pasta with seasonings before adding the mayo made for a fresher, brighter salad.
By all means, use real mayonnaise—I prefer Duke’s. Surprisingly, ATK testers found the reduced fat mayo was “not bad.” But avoid the non-fat salad dressings, that tend to have an overly-sweet taste.
The test panel’s most highly recommended elbow noodle was Barilla, but not Barilla Plus, the multi-grain alternative that tastes like it’s “fortified with sawdust.”

A Tip Top Tuna Noodle Salad

Using these tips, you can bring a whole new dimension to this old, picnic favorite. For a dressy macaroni dish, I prefer my old Tuna Noodle Salad, (aka “John’s Wedding Salad”), enhanced by ATK’s helpful hints.

The recipe makes a huge bowl—enough to feed twelve. That is, as long as you don’t open the refrigerator door and nibble on the noodles too often.