Cindy Gerken estimates she’s got three or four bookshelves stuffed full of cookbooks and "probably
more in the attic."
Even so, when she got the yen for a perfect seafood pasta salad about five years ago and plowed through
the books, she couldn’t find a recipe that matched the flavor she was seeking.
"I would think, well, that part looks good there, and this part here. I combined parts of quite a
few recipes" and added some ideas and ingredients of her own.
"I knew kind of what I was looking for, but couldn’t really find it in any one recipe."
The results of her experimentation frankly thrilled Gerken, and later, everyone else who tried it.
"I make it a lot of times," including graduation parties, family functions and "every year
for the 4th of July party at my husband’s work."
Gerken’s husband Larry owns Argo-Hytos, a Bowling Green filtration company, and his employees have come
to expect her seafood salad at the annual celebration.
A Bowling Green native, the former Cindy Smith is currently full-time mom and active chauffeur to their
16-year-old daughter, who attends Bowling Green High School, and their son, a Kenwood 11-year-old.
"I volunteer a lot. My daughter’s a ballet dancer at the ballet theater in Toledo. I do a lot of
volunteering there, and at Kenwood." She laughed, adding that the ballet commitment alone "is
a full-time job."
Gerken radiates enthusiasm when talking about the hours she spends in the kitchen.
"I love to do sauces. I like to take recipes and put my own spin on it," as she did with the
seafood salad.
"Every recipe I have has a lot of writing off to the side," which amounts to Gerken’s reminders
to herself about how to modify the recipe the second time she makes it.
Besides that cache of cookbooks, she finds a great deal of inspiration from online recipe sources and
from her favorite magazine, "Martha Stewart Everyday Foods," which she describes as
"straight home cooking."
Her devotion to home cooking is creative rather than hidebound.
"I’m not the meat and potatoes type, more the roasted vegetables type."
That search for the unexpected accent flavor motivated her when she was developing the seafood salad
recipe.
"I love dill, and it has dill in it. And it has mustard. It just has all my own favorites in it; a
lot of combined tastes that I like."
She is fairly flexible regarding the type of seafood used in the recipe.
While her favorite choices are salad shrimp and imitation crab meat, also known as surimi, she has found
that smoked salmon also works well.
Bottom line, this is a recipe that Gerken can heartily recommend for any Labor Day weekend potlucks and
outdoor celebrations readers may be planning.
Obviously, because it contains seafood and mayonnaise, the dish should be kept cold prior to serving, and
returned to a cooler promptly at meal’s end. Even better, place the serving dish atop a larger bowl of
crushed ice in the serving line.
And next time you run into Gerken at one school or community function or another, ask her about some of
her other wonderful salad recipes, like her all-fresh-vegetable salad, or a cranberry salad that she
says is a long-time family favorite recipe.
In fact, maybe she’ll need to make a return appearance in the Cook’s Corner. Her supply of good recipes
won’t be running out any time soon.
Seafood salad
1 lb. box medium shell macaroni (cooked to al dente)
8 to 10 crab sticks (cut into bite size pieces)
8 oz salad shrimp (thawed and drained on towel)
2 c. fresh broccoli florets (cut into bite size pieces)
1 medium red bell pepper, diced
½ cup celery, diced
4 to 5 green onions, sliced
Dressing
1 cup mayo
1 cup Miracle Whip
¼ cup Italian dressing (lite or reg.)
2 tsp. fresh dill weed (or ¾ tsp. dried dill weed)
1 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. prepared mustard
½ to 1 tsp. red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
Mix salad ingredients together and add ¾ of the dressing. Refrigerate for 10 to 24 hours. Add remaining
dressing as needed before serving. You can substitute smoked salmon or your other favorite seafood for
the crab sticks and salad shrimp.