More sides for grilling: Garlic Bread and Macaroni Salad

After last week’s Mexican beans, Basque Potato Salad and steak marinate, I decided to add a few more sides in honor of Father’s Day.

In the early1970s barbecue and grilling almost became extinct; their place in the American diet replaced with fast the food hamburger chains. Good for us; that’s no longer true.

Never put a cover on anything that is cooked in milk unless you want to spend hours cleaning up the stove when it boils over. Slip your hand inside a waxed sandwich bag and you have a perfect mitt for greasing your baking pans and casserole dishes. Montgomery County Firehouse Favorites, 2003

Garlic Bread: 1970s

• 1 loaf French bread, sliced lengthwise
• 1 cube butter or combination of butter and olive oil
• 2-6 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 Tablespoons grated cheese
• 1 Tablespoon fresh, chopped parsley or combination of parsley, oregano or Italian seasoning.

Melt butter, add garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Remove from heat; add herbs. Spread mixture over bread halves; sprinkle with cheese. Brown under broiler for 5 minutes or until browned; or cut into pieces and toast in a toaster oven.

Hot water kills yeast. One way to tell the correct temperature is to pour the water over your forearm. If you cannot feel either hot or cold, the temperature is just right. Use a metal ice tray divider to cut biscuits in a hurry. Press into dough, and biscuits will separate at dividing lines when baked. Bentmar Hobby Club Millennium Cookbook, 2000

Macaroni Salad, 1970s

• 2 cups elbow macaroni, ditalini pasta or salad macaroni
• 3 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
• 1 ½ cup grated carrots
• 2 stalk chopped celery
• 1 small red or yellow onion, chopped
• 4 large kosher dill pickle spears, chopped

Dressing:

• 1-2 cups Mayonnaise
• 1 Tablespoon spicy mustard
• 2 Tablespoons vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Paprika
• Parsley (optional)

Cook pasta in boiling water until tender. Drain. In a large bowl, combine hard boiled eggs, carrots, celery, onion and pickles with pasta. Mix mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper. Fold dressing into pasta-vegetable mixture. Sprinkle with paprika. Refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight. Add sprigs of parsley for color.

Barbecue quotations:

“Make sure all meat is thoroughly defrosted” – Ernest Shackleton

Spare rib anyone? – Adam