Creamy Macaroni Salad

Cooking pasta for a cold salad is radically different from cooking pasta for a hot dish. Going against the grain, you cook it not to al dente, but to tenderness. Overcooking it will leave you with a soggy mess instead of a salad, and undercooking it will produce hard-as-nails pasta once cool. Cooking the pasta just right will render this a perfect American staple. Use gluten-free pasta to make it gluten-free. Recipe and photo from Everyday Vegan Eats* by Zsu Dever © 2014, reprinted by permission of Vegan Heritage Press.

Serves: 4

• 8 oz elbow macaroni (use whole grain or gluten-free if you’d like)
• 3/4 cup vegan mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 celery stalk, minced
• 1/4 medium red bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 2 tbsp minced red onion
• 2 tbsp minced parsley
• 2 tbsp sweet pickle relish
• salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

1. Cook the pasta in a large pot of…