Summertime Farmhouse Pasta Recipes

Farmhouse cooking uses simple, seasonal ingredients to create hearty meals to share with friends and family. Versions of farmhouse home cooking exist all over the world wherever there are farms and farmers. For this reason, all sorts of ingredients are used in genuine farmhouse recipes. In this article, I explore some of the possibilities for using pasta in authentic farmhouse cooking. Read on to learn more, including my favorite old fashioned macaroni salad farmhouse recipe and farmhouse bolognese recipe.

Classic, Old Fashioned Macaroni Salad Farmhouse Recipe

Macaroni salad is a classic at summer picnics, and a farmhouse macaroni salad is quick and easy to make, full of interesting ingredients and bursting with flavor.

Here’s what you’ll need and what you‘ll do:

• Four cups of dry elbow macaroni

Begin by preparing your macaroni. Bring a large pot of water to a full, rolling boil and add the macaroni. Boil for 7 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until the macaroni is tender.

Set a large colander in your sink, turn on the cold water and pour the macaroni through the colander. Rinse it thoroughly with cold water. This will cool it off so that you can handle it to complete the recipe.

While your macaroni is cooking, prepare your other ingredients:

• One green or red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• Two and a half tbsp of prepared yellow mustard
• One cup of mayonnaise or salad dressing
• A quarter cup of distilled white vinegar
• Two tbsp of chopped pimento peppers
• A quarter of a cup of grated carrot
• Half a tsp of ground black pepper
• Two stalks of chopped celery
• One large, chopped onion
• Half a cup of white sugar
• One and a half tsp of salt

Measure and prepare the rest of your ingredients and combine them in a large bowl. Add the macaroni and toss everything thoroughly. Cover the bowl with a well-fitted lid or plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight for best results.

It is possible to serve this dish successfully after only four hours of refrigeration, but longer refrigeration is better.

Here’s another take on classic macaroni salad.

Old-Fashioned Macaroni Salad

Easy And Authentic Farmhouse Bolognese

Bolognese is a traditional Italian farmhouse dish (well, sort of) that can be easily prepared as a one pan pasta meal.

This is the perfect farmhouse recipe for summertime since it’s quick to cook, uses and produces little heat in your kitchen and is made with ripe, fresh tomatoes which are available in abundance during the summer months.

Farmhouse Bolognese Recipe

1. Prepare the pasta of your choice

You can use spaghetti, linguine, rotini or macaroni. You want to have about 4 to 6 cups of finished pasta. Boil it, drain it and keep it warm while you prepare the sauce.

2. Prepare the sauce

This recipe is heavy on onion and garlic. Chop up a whole red onion and several cloves of garlic. Sauté them over medium heat in a heat safe oil, such as peanut, grapeseed or coconut oil.

When the onions and garlic are soft, add in a couple of cups of fresh, whole cherry tomatoes and a cup of chicken broth or vegetable broth. Season to taste using any combination of the following:

• Red Chili Pepper Flakes
• Bay Leaves
• Oregano
• Cumin
• Basil

Bring the mixture to a low boil and simmer for about 3 to 5 minutes. The tomatoes will burst and begin to separate.

Toss the pasta with the sauce and top it off with Parmesan cheese if you wish. I love to eat my pasta with freshly homemade farmhouse bread.

Be Creative And Adjust To Suit Your Taste

Remember that whenever you’re creating a farmhouse recipe, seasonality is one of the main things you should keep in mind.

Farmhouse dishes are traditionally made with the produce and other food products that are naturally and locally available, so feel free to toss in readily available ingredients if they appeal to you.

Fresh herbs are also used in abundance in this dish. Any farmhouse cook worth his or her salt knows that a kitchen herb garden is an absolute necessity for authentic farmhouse results. Use the herbs that are flourishing in your garden at the moment.

In addition to these two important qualities, simple presentation is an important key to farmhouse cooking.

This easy Bolognese recipe can be served right out of the cast-iron skillet in which it’s cooked. Add a loaf of farmhouse Artisan bread and a bottle of homemade red wine, and you’re good to go.