Drum roll, please.
Until today, this popular recipe for Dan Ferrarese’s Spaghetti Veggie Salad has never been made public. It’s an honor and delight for A News Cafe to publish it here with permission from Ferrarese, formerly of Redding. He once owned and operated the popular Z’s Deli near downtown Redding, which is where I first tasted the Spaghetti Veggie Salad and became obsessed with securing the recipe so I could make it at home.
This is one of the best summer pasta salads I’ve ever tasted. I think you’ll like it, too. You can make it ahead. It’s stable and travels well. It’s easily doubled, or tripled. It can last a few days in the refrigerator. It’s pretty. Most of all, it’s delicious. One thing about this recipe is that it leaves a lot up to personal preference, which is a good thing, unless you’re the kind of cook who needs very specific instructions.
But first, some background.
Memorable epic fail: ‘Turkey Gravy for Dummies’
Dan Ferrarese and I can laugh about it now, but way, way back when I was the local paper’s food section editor I wrote a Thanksgiving food story for which I’d interviewed then-chef Ferrarese about mastering the art of gravy-making.
Alas, no, I do not have that story or recipe. It disappeared somewhere into the online ethers around 2007. Sadly, in a highly unorthodox fit of unprofessional retaliation (or something else beyond my comprehension), the paper’s top dogs scrubbed that story from the archives, along with everything I’d written during my decade with the Record Searchlight, after I was shown the door and subsequently started A News Cafe. Yes, I’ve heard it’s possible to look up my entire body of newspaper work via a tedious microfiche search at the Shasta County Library, one story at a time from 1996 to 2007, so that’s something.
Where was I?
Oh yes, Ferrarese’s gravy recipe. Anyway, I’d interviewed Ferrarese about how to create the perfect gravy, and he’d provided the perfect recipe. In fact, it was so simple that he called it “Gravy for Dummies”. I published it and was horrified to learn almost immediately that the recipe contained a major critical numerical error. Apparently, the ingredients were correct, but the quantity of liquid was way off. It needed at least twice as much liquid than what was called for in Ferrarese’s published recipe. Without the correct amount of liquid, the “Gravy for Dummies” was more like “Wallpaper Paste for Idiots”. A sharp-eyed reader spotted the error and alerted us, so we immediately published the correction, which appeared in the paper 24 hours later. The problem with newspaper corrections is that everyone who read the original “Gravy for Dummies” Thanksgiving recipe may not ever see the correction.
That’s one way in which online publication is superior. Mistake? Make the correction and erase the error from the original version.
I only mention this in case you’re one of those recipe-clipping readers who saved Ferrarese’s Gravy for Dummies recipe published in my Redding Record Searchlight Thanksgiving story. If that’s the case, and if you make the recipe and notice it has more of a wet-cement consistency than gravy, just add hot chicken broth and water until it looks right. It’ll be fine.
But I digress.
Chef Dan Ferrarese stands near his profiterole tower creation for a special catering event. Photo source: Facebook
There was a time in Redding when Ferrarese owned and operated a wonderful little restaurant in Redding, Z’s Deli. It was located on Shasta and Oregon streets in Redding. It was of modest size, but packed with Ferrarese’s incredible food, especially popular with lunch-time working customers. One of my favorites was his Spaghetti Veggie Salad. I called it that, but that may not have been its real name.
It was a colorful, complex salad with a convergence of interesting textures and flavors. The base was al dente (Italian for “to the tooth” firmness) cooked spaghetti, soft tomatoes, crisp raw onions, cucumbers, and crunchy bell peppers, all bathed in herbs and sublime liquid flavorings that defied obvious identification. Plus, there appeared to be flecks of small bits, perhaps seeds, perhaps grated dried cheese, or something dehydrated? Hard to tell. No, impossible to tell. Even for experienced cooks, trying to analyze and decipher the exact contents of Ferrarese’s pasta salad recipe was like a culinary Rumpelstiltskin mystery quest. No matter how often the most tenacious food-savvy customers tried to guess the ingredients, Ferrarese would just smile. He later admitted to me that it was perversely fun over the years to keep customers guessing, when the joke was on them, because the salad was incredibly easy to prepare, and some of the ingredients came from a jar.
Secret ingredient is tough to find, but easy to replicate
Ok, I can’t stand the suspense. Spoiler alert: two of the unexpected ingredients in the top-secret Ferrarese pasta salad are Wishbone Salad Dressing, and a bizarre ’60s throwback called Schilling’s Salad Supreme. Don’t bother looking for Schilling Salad Supreme, because Schillings doesn’t exist anymore. It was bought out by the McCormick Corporation in 1947. However, McCormick makes a “Perfect Pinch” Salad Supreme, which I believe is — if not identical — pretty close to the original Schilling Salad Supreme recipe
What exactly is in Salad Supreme, you may wonder? Well, the main ingredients include paprika, poppy seed, celery seed, black pepper, red pepper, Romano cheese, salt, sesame seed, garlic, buttermilk powder and powdered cheddar cheese.
I’ve made this recipe a few times, to rave reviews. The first time, when I couldn’t find Salad Supreme Seasoning in any Redding grocery stores, I found and made an online copycat Salad Supreme recipe. Later, I learned that McCormick’s Salad Supreme Seasoning is sold on Amazon. I have to say that the copycat recipe came through just fine, and both salads tasted very similar. Plus, there was some satisfaction in making my own, and skipping all the artificial binders and fillers found in the store-bought seasoning version.
Suggestion: If you do make your own Salad Supreme Seasoning, and plan on making this salad multiple times over during the next few months, make up a big batch of your own copycat Salad Supreme Seasoning mix and put it in an airtight container in the refrigerator (it contains cheese).
I never would have imagined that the Ferrarese spaghetti salad contained a full bottle of Wishbone Italian salad dressing and nearly a full bottle of some old-timey ’60s Salad Supreme Seasoning.
No wonder I couldn’t guess the recipe.
For years I (and others) begged kindly asked Ferrarese for the recipe, but he declined on the grounds that it was a family secret. When Z’s Deli closed, Ferrarese went to work at the former Sunset Marketplace on Eureka Way, then considered one of Redding’s finest upscale grocery stores. Ferrarese took his top-secret Spaghetti Veggie salad recipe with him. And when Sunset Marketplace became Tops Market, Ferrarese still featured Ferrarese’s secret salad. Tops Market Closed. The Ferrareses moved away. It would seem that was the end of the Spaghetti Veggie Salad’s Redding glory days.
A few years ago I tracked Ferrarese down on Facebook where we caught up. He shared the story of the Ferrarese family’s Spaghetti Veggie Salad, which turns out to have come from his father, who served it in the mid ’60s at his family deli in Southern California.
The Ferrarese legacy: From major league baseball to famous deli
Ferrarese said the recipe first came to his grandfather’s Italian deli as a trade from a favorite customer who wanted the Ferrarese family’s famous rotisserie baby back Hawaiian ribs recipe. The grandfather started the deli in the early ’60s in the Mojave desert in the town of Apple Valley.
Meanwhile, Ferrarese’s father, Dan Ferrarese, was a major league baseball pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, and the Chicago White Sox.
He pitched against such professional baseball greats as Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, Billy Martin and Hank Aaron.
Don Ferrarese, major league baseball pitcher.
When Ferrarese’s father retired in 1964, he and the entire Ferrarese family pitched in to work at Hugo’s, named after Ferrarese’s grandfather.
The Ferrareses eventually opened a second Hugo’s Deli. Dan Ferrarese and his father ran the Hugo’s Deli that was voted for nine consecutive years as one of best Southern California family restaurants.
In addition to the special pasta salad, Hugo’s featured rotisserie chicken and ribs. But Hugo’s was about more than food. In addition to the full deli, Hugo’s had a sunken wine room, and sold everything from antiques and groceries to liquor. Outside, there was a self-service gas pump; one of the first in Southern California. Ferrarese said Hugo’s was reminiscent of “Cheers” in that it was a gathering place where most everyone knew everyone.
With that kind of background, when Dan Ferrarese moved to Redding, few family members were surprised when he opened his own deli, paying homage to his Italian culinary roots and the Ferrarese family deli.
Hugo’s Deli is gone. Z’s Deli is gone, as are Sunset Marketplace and Tops Market. The consolation is that Ferrarese’s Spaghetti Veggie Salad recipe is very much alive, and will be passed on from person to person, hopefully along with the recipe’s story of the Ferrarese legacy.
Below is the recipe and directions exactly as written by Dan Ferrarese, and shared with me for you.
Thank you, Dan, for entrusting your family recipe with us.
Now, Dan, if you could ever see it in your heart to share your family’s Rotisserie Baby Back Hawaiian Ribs recipe, I’d be happy to swap it for the top-secret Rite Spot House Salad Dressing. It was given to me by a former Rite Spot waitress a few decades ago. Or Ramona’s enchiladas recipe, also provided by a former employee of the old Mexican restaurant by the railroad tracks. Or Woolworth’s apple dumplings, or German chocolate cake; one given by a former Woolworth’s kitchen staff employee, and the other provided by Bev Corford of Redding, whose father managed Woolworth’s back in Redding’s downtown heyday.
That’s lot to choose from. I hope it’s tempting. Just let me know. You can trust me. I’m the keeper of secret recipes, and your family’s secret Rotisserie Baby Back Hawaiian Ribs recipe is safe with me.
Ferrarese Family Cold Spaghetti Salad
1 lb. dry spaghetti or angel hair pasta cooked al dente, cooled and rinsed in cold water and lightly covered with olive oil
1 bottle of Wishbone Italian salad dressing (weird, I know)
3/4 of 1 small bottle of Schilling Salad Supreme (another ’60s icon)
Red wine vinegar to taste (use a little more of this than lemon juice proportionally), roughly 1/4 cup
Lemon juice to taste (fresh or concentrate … fresh is always better!)
Tabasco (you should be able to barely taste this once mixed … maybe 1 tablespoon?)
Salt and pepper, to taste
Onion powder to taste (maybe a tablespoon)
1 large red onion sliced however you prefer (Vidalia, Maui or any sweet onion is good also)
1 cucumber (hot house or regular) sliced or diced to your preference
3 lbs. tomatoes (regular or Roma or even cherry)
1 red and 1 green bell pepper (sliced or diced to your preference)
Dan Ferrarese’s exact directions:
I have found over the years that making the ingredients in a bowl with veggies and THEN adding the pasta makes for a better method. The pasta should be cooked really al dente because it will absorb the liquid in about 1/2 a day and soften nicely … otherwise it becomes too mushy if you don’t eat it all the same day. Salt and pepper and amounts of tartness with vinegar & lemon & Tabasco are all personal preferences on how you like yours. My wife and I constantly have “issues” over whose tastes better! (Mine, of course … Ha)
Doni’s notes:
• To help mellow out the onions, put the slices in cold water in a container for an hour or so, then drain before putting in the salad.
• For a variety of shapes, halve cherry tomatoes, cube bell peppers and quarter red onion slices.
• Mix all the liquid ingredients together, then pour over the warm cooked pasta.
• Regarding that bottle of Wishbone dressing, I’m assuming it’s a standard size large bottle, since back in the ’60s there weren’t many size options. But if you’re unsure, buy the big bottle and pour in just the amount that tastes right to you.
Enjoy!
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