Warm Pasta Salad

I had always enjoyed my mother's summery macaroni salad--heavy with cheese and slices of hard-boiled egg, swimming in a sea of mayonnaise and thick yellow mustard--but I wanted something lighter and more refined for my table, so I started experimenting.

I found that this recipe works quite well served warm and paired with a gamier meat such as duck, and is delicious cold when paired with a slice of pork loin.

• one quarter of a red onion, approximately one-eighth cup, coarsely chopped
• six to eight cloves of garlic, depending on their size, finely minced
• one-quarter cup mayonnaise
• one-half teaspoon mustard powder
• one teaspoon grated horseradish
• eight ounces dry miniature shell pasta
• one small sweet red bell pepper

Note: if you feel this dish to be too pungent with the horseradish and garlic, you can sweeten it by reducing the horseradish to one-half teaspoon and the garlic to no more than four cloves, and then adding one-quarter teaspoon of salt.

A word of caution, however: if you opt to use a salad dressing or sandwich spread as opposed to mayonnaise, it may well throw off the balance of flavors.

• Roast the pepper, then skin it. Remove the seeds and veins, then slice into one-quarter inch wide strips. Slice those strips into one inch long sections. Set aside on a small plate.
• Mince the onion and the garlic separately: you risk turning the garlic into fragrant mush if you try to chop it with the onion, and you want the shock of discrete garlic bits when you chew the pasta.
• Mix the mayonnaise, the mustard powder, the horseradish, the onion and the garlic in a glass bowl and set aside while the pasta is cooking.
• Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package.
• Drain the pasta well, but do not rinse it, then place it into a serving bowl.
• Gently mix the pasta and the dressing together while the pasta is hot.
• Fold in the pepper slices and any liquid that drained from them while they sat.

Enjoy.