Summer Chicken Macaroni Salad -- The Dish That Fed the Canners While the Jars Cooled

Canning season proper. The full August production. Alone. The word is wrong — I'm not alone, Jack is here, Kevin is here, the kitchen is full of people and steam and jars — but alone in the way that matters, alone at the stove where Marlene used to stand, alone with the recipes that used to have a second pair of hands, alone in the specific August way of a woman doing the work of two women because one of them is gone.

Sweet corn. Sixty ears again. Blanched, cut, frozen. Green beans, snapped and canned. Bread-and-butter pickles — the turmeric staining the counter yellow, the same yellow that stained Marlene's counters, the same yellow that will stain counters in this family for as long as there are cucumbers and turmeric and women who put them together. The stain is the proof. The stain is the heritage. The stain does not wash out. Good.

I canned fifty-six jars. Down from seventy last year, when I was canning for two kitchens. This year Roger's kitchen gets its share from my production, delivered on Saturday drives, stacked in his pantry beside the jar of water he sealed in March and still hasn't thrown away. The jar of water is his trophy. The jar of water says: I learned. The quarts of corn and beans beside it say: my daughter learned first, and the learning continues, and the jars will keep coming every August whether the teacher is here or not.

I took a photo of the jars on the shelf. Blurry, as always. I sent it to no one. There was no one to send it to — Mom was the audience for the jar photo, the person who received the annual canning report and responded with her own count and the count was the competition and the competition was the love. I have the photo. I don't have the audience. The jars are on the shelf. The shelf is full. The audience is gone. The canning continues anyway. That's the whole point. The canning continues.

Sixty ears of corn, fifty-six jars, a kitchen full of steam — and at some point, everyone in that kitchen needs to eat something that isn’t boiling. This is the salad I make the night before canning day now, or early that morning while the first pot of water heats up: Summer Chicken Macaroni Salad, cold from the fridge, ready when the work pauses. Marlene always said the secret to a good canning day was feeding your people before they got too tired to taste anything. I’m still following her instructions on that one, even if I’m the only one left who remembers where they came from.

Summer Chicken Macaroni Salad

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 15 min | Total Time: 1 hr 35 min (includes chilling) | Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
• 2 cups cubed cooked chicken breast
• 1 cup frozen peas, thawed
• 1/2 cup diced celery
• 1/2 cup diced sweet red pepper
• 1/4 cup finely diced red onion
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Instructions

1. Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook macaroni according to package directions until al dente. Drain and rinse thoroughly under cold water to stop cooking. Spread on a baking sheet for a few minutes to dry slightly.
2. Prep the vegetables. While the pasta cools, dice the celery, red pepper, and red onion. Thaw the peas by running them under cold water and patting dry.
3. Make the dressing. In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, cider vinegar, sugar, salt, black pepper, and garlic powder until smooth and well combined.
4. Combine. In a large bowl, toss together the cooled macaroni, chicken, peas, celery, red pepper, and red onion. Pour the dressing over the top and stir gently until everything is evenly coated.
5. Chill. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. The salad can be made up to a day ahead — stir once before serving and add a spoonful of mayonnaise if it seems dry after sitting overnight.
6. Serve cold. Taste for seasoning just before serving, adjusting salt and pepper as needed. Serve straight from the refrigerator alongside whatever else is on the canning-day table.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 290 | Protein: 16g | Fat: 15g | Carbs: 24g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 390mg