Mmmmm.
Mmm.
Mmmmmmmmmm.
Mmmmm.
Okay, now that that’s over with, let me show you my favorite chick food pasta salad—the one I always make on Fourth of July. I used to make a pasta salad in the summertime that consisted of radiatore (a delightful and fun short pasta), halved cherry tomatoes, whole basil leaves, olive oil-red wine vinegar dressing, and tons of grated Parmesan. Oh, I loved that pasta salad. It was cold and fresh and wonderful. And simple and plain and delicious.
Then Barefoot Contessa came into my life. And she showed me this pasta salad, which had tomato and basil, too…but the dressing had a sundried tomato base, which added a whole new depth of flavor. She put cubes of fresh mozzarella in her pasta salad, which I happen to love…but which menfolk ’round these parts unfortunately mistake for tofu and avoid like the plague. So I generally don’t go there.
Not that the men even eat this salad anyway. They don’t. They’re way too busy putting jalapeno poppers on their cheeseburgers and trying to figure out the cattle market.
This pasta salad is the child born of those two parents. Tangy sundried tomato dressing is poured over corkscrew pasta and allowed to settle into the grooves and crevices. Tomatoes and olives are added in. Plenty of Parmesan is the icing on the cake. I love this pasta salad so much, and it’s even better the next day.
You’ll need a jar of sundried tomatoes packed in oil.
Sundried tomatoes, for me, were a little bit of an acquired taste. I love them as the basis of a dressing or sauce.
I always want to have more than enough dressing, so I just throw the whole jar in there. (I drain the tomatoes first.)
Throw in 3 or 4 cloves of peeled garlic. It’s the right thing to do.
Next, add 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar, give or take.
Now, I usually pulse that mixture first to chop the tomatoes, but for the purposes of demonstration, I added 1 cup of extra virgin olive oil.
And plenty of salt and pepper.
Pulse, pulse, and pulse until the mixture is combined. There’ll be a tiny degree of separation of ingredients, so don’t feel like you have to keep blending it to death.
I almost always make the dressing the day before the Fourth. First of all, it just eliminates one more thing I have to do the day of our celebration. Second, and more importantly, letting the dressing sit in the fridge overnight really lets the garlic work its magic; the flavors really deepen and meld together. Yum.
This is the dressing the next day. Look how delicious and rich it looks.
To make the salad, cook 1 pound of corkscrew (rotini, fusilli) pasta until done.
Remember that the pasta will be served cold, so it can cook just a little past al dente. When it’s done, drain it and rinse with cold water until pasta is cool. Set aside while you prepare the other ingredients.
Pitted Kalamata olives. I have found that removing the pits from Kalamata olives disrupts my Fourth of July joy.
I stop just short of using the whole jar.
I give them a rough chop, making sure not to leave any huge chunks since the suckers are SO very salty. Whew.
*You can use any combination of olives here. Ripe black olives and green olives mixed together are surprisingly yummy!
Next, slice up a pint of ripe cherry tomatoes.
Gosh, these tomatoes were flavorful. When that tomato flavor is right on the money, it is SO right on the money. There’s nothing like it in the world.
You also need plenty—like a cup and a half plenty—of freshly shredded Parmesan cheese.
Would you like to see my top secret method for shredding a cup and a half of Parmesan cheese?
Here. I’ll show you.
Look, I’m sorry. But I can’t be bothered with expending all that elbow grease, and besides that…I left my box grater at the Lodge.
Grab some basil leaves—as few or as many as you like.
Roll the leaves into a tight roll, the slice very thin strips to julienne.
Mmmm. Like, fragrance to the max. There’s nothing like fresh basil.
To assemble: cold pasta in a bowl.
Some of the dressing.
All of the olives. (Say that fast three times.)
Stir together to see where you are.
Add in more dressing. The mixing of the salad is an organic process.
When the dressing amount looks good (you really want the dressing to make an appearance! Don’t skimp), go ahead and dump in 1 cup of the Parmesan.
You can’t know what the Parmesan does to this salad. My GOSH, is it ever good.
Next, dump in the tomatoes…
And stir them in, too.
Add in the basil and stir. Looks good! I always taste at the end to make sure it doesn’t need a little more dressing…or a sprinkling of salt.
I like to pour it onto a big white platter. And make no mistake: this makes a LOT of pasta salad. So don’t go thinking you want to double it or you’ll be eating leftovers for a month.
Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing.
THIS is one delicious salad.
Of course, it needs a little more Parmesan.
Oh, baby.
Oh, BABY.
Hey, you know what?
I’m so glad I’m a woman.
