Pasta Salad

It may seem odd to speak of seasons in the land of endless summer, but if the differentiations are not as marked at these latitudes as they are at others, they are there. They local traditions of May gray and June gloom took their usual turns, as LA’s famous marine layer positioned itself between our earthbound eyes and the sun. But the sun still broke through almost every day, even if it waited, trickster-like, until the cocktail hour. Overall it remains true that it is sunny every day in Los Angeles.

Summer has hit its stride as gray and gloom finally moved up the coast. In July, every day is beatified by crystalline blue skies, often with high clouds, and golden sunshine. In the yard, life responds to sunshine with the bustle of itself. Garlic blossoms open to emit their controversial fragrance, but that doesn’t stop the honeybees from feeding there as well as upon the tiny violets that sprinkle the grass. They seek nectar, which fills the two hummingbird feeders that are positioned far enough apart to do what can be done against hummingbird turf wars. Our beloved ravens watch from the fulsome greenery of the grandfatherly California laurel that oversees the yard, screeching warnings when interlopers from neighborhood dogs to the mail carrier cross their sight lines.

Life is abustle in the local parks. Tennis lessons go from dawn to dusk in nearby Plummer, as the sounds of effort and success ring through the air. Private trainers work clients on the lawn, not only for the fresh air of calisthenics but to drum up business. Families and friends gather under city awnings for birthday parties, reunions, suppers on the ground. The queue starts mid-afternoon for the Saturday evening film series at Hollywood Forever. In this diverse neighborhood, the fare might be a cold buffet of potatoes, crème fraiche and caviar from one of the Russian delis; brick-pressed sandwiches and cold soup from an artisan sandwich shop; selections from the junk food aisle at a local store.

Cookouts and picnics are about the pleasures of summer: sunshine, spontaneity, ease. They are at their best when they are not overly ambitious or over-organized. Someone, often the host, will offer to supply the main dish, from burgers for the grill to sandwiches for the blanket, from a tailgate of chili to a bucket of freshly caught clams. Typically, everyone brings something, from a house specialty to whatever looked good in the store on the way over. It is always appreciated when someone offers to bring serveware and linens, and it is okay whether those are china and damask or paper and plastic.

Something anyone can contribute is a side dish. Side dishes are ideal for outdoor gatherings because they are portable, travel well, and are crowd-pleasing. Moreover, because everyone brings their specialty or favorite, they become a reflection of the crowd, a true portrait of the melting pot we were celebrating just last week – many of us at outdoor gatherings.

Urban Home Blog has several recipes for side dishes appropriate to cookouts, picnics, tailgates, porches and patios. Fire and Ice, French potato salad, three bean salad and fennel salad with oranges and lemon can all be made ahead of time and transported in anything from a food vessel with a secure lid to a good-sized Mason jar. A summery heirloom tomato salad or fresh fruit salad will always be welcome. Green salads are tricky for transport, but can be successful if kept simple. Carry everything as ingredients and prepare the salad on site. Arugula salad is successful prepared and served this way, and so are Insalata Mista and leaf lettuces with orange-sherry vinaigrette. Don’t forget that biscuits are a welcome and unexpected side dish, especially if you present them with a jar of jam or preserves. If you want to serve a jumble of vegetables, serve gazpacho or minestrone chilled from paper cups, or contribute a couple of jars of giardiniera.

Pasta salads are always welcome. Both capellini with lemon and capers and linguini with asparagus and leeks hold up as cold side dishes; they can be made ahead of time and they travel well. But every cook should have in their repertoire a solid pasta salad. These stalwarts of the deli case are an important skill for the home cook because they are versatile and popular, and because it is always a shame to throw out leftover pasta. It is also a dish that is typically better made from scratch, as a true, good pasta salad is a vibrant mix of flavors, and bears unfortunately little resemblance to the mayonnaise drenched glob of noodles and pickle relish that one typically finds in the store. Here is my original recipe for a pasta salad of animated Mediterranean flavors, utilizing simple supermarket ingredients. If possible, mix it a day before serving, as the flavors improve overnight.

Pasta Salad
Oil-cured olives and sun-dried tomatoes should be available in the deli or antipasti sections of the supermarket, or can be easily obtained from a gourmet or Italian grocery.

1 box dried medium-cut pasta, such as farfalle, rotini or shells
1 medium red onion
1 small red bell pepper
1 small head broccoli
1/3 pound pitted oil-cured black olives
¼ pound sun-dried tomatoes
1 lemon
2 medium cloves garlic
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
Red pepper flakes
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Cook the broccoli and pasta

1. Rinse the broccoli and place into a colander to drain. While it is draining, pick over the broccoli to remove and discard leaves or brown or yellow discolorations if any.
2. Fill a large and a medium saucepan each 2/3 with water. Slice off both ends of the lemon and drop the lemon ends in to the water in the medium saucepan.
3. Liberally salt the water in the large saucepan.
4. Turn on the burners under both pans of water. Cover the pans with their lids and bring the pans to the boil.
5. Safely use a sturdy kitchen knife to remove and discard the calloused bottom of the broccoli. Safely use the knife to section the broccoli down the stem. Follow the natural sectioning of the stem.
6. Once the water in the medium pan is boiling, transfer the sectioned broccoli to the water. Boil the broccoli until crisp-tender and bright, approximately three minutes.
7. Once the water in the large pan is boiling, open the box of pasta and empty the pasta into the water. Use a slotted spoon to stir the pasta in the water. Boil the pasta, uncovered, until al dente for the amount of time specified on the box; approximately ten minutes for most cuts.

Make the dressing

1. While the pasta and broccoli are cooking, cut the lemon in half. Use a lemon press to express the juice from both halves into a large mixing bowl.
2. Measure the Italian seasoning, several shakes of salt, several grindings of fresh black pepper, and a few red pepper flakes into the lemon juice.
3. Measure the red wine vinegar into the bowl.
4. Peel the garlic and remove the root end. Half each clove; remove and discard any sprouting from the center. Use a garlic press to press the garlic into the bowl.
5. Measure the olive oil into a measuring cup or a spout. Hold the measured olive oil over the bowl containing the lemon juice. Use one hand to gently pour the olive oil in a thin stream into the lemon juice, while using the other hand to whisk the oil into the juice.

Drain and cool the broccoli and pasta

1. Once the pasta and broccoli have cooked, turn off the burners.
2. Dump the broccoli into the colander. Turn on the cool water and shake the broccoli under the stream of water.
3. Turn off the water and give the colander a good shake to express as much moisture as possible from the broccoli.
4. Turn the broccoli into a bowl and place the bowl containing the broccoli in the refrigerator.
5. Return the colander to the sink. Dump the pasta into the colander. It is okay if the colander contains small bits of cooked broccoli.
6. Give the colander a good shake. Leave the colander in the sink so that the pasta can drain and cool while you prepare the rest of the vegetables.

Prepare the vegetables

1. Place a few drops of food-safe vegetable cleaner in the palm of your hand. Rub your hands together and then rub the pepper with the cleanser. Rinse the pepper under cool water until it feels clean.
2. Place the pepper on a cutting board. Cut the pepper in half from cap to bottom. Cut away and discard the stem; cut away and discard any white pith from inside each half. Rinse each half under warm water to remove the seeds; if saving seeds for planting, do this step over a fine mesh sieve to catch the seeds.
3. Cut off the rounded top and bottom of each half; save for another use. Flatten each half, skin side down, against the cutting board. Cut each flattened half into 1/4-inch strips and cut across the strips to form 1/4-inch squares. Scrape the diced pepper into the bowl containing the dressing.
4. Peel the onion and remove the root and stem ends. Place the onion on the cutting board. Halve the onion from root to stem; halve each half. Cut each quarter into thin crescents. Cut across the crescents to form dice. Scrape the diced onion into the bowl containing the pepper and the dressing.
5. Once the broccoli is cool enough to touch, remove it from the refrigerator. Roughly cut the broccoli into small, bite-sized pieces. It is okay if they are not uniform. Measure about 1 cup of chopped broccoli, preferring small, brightly colored pieces of the florets, into the bowl containing the onions, pepper and dressing. Freeze leftover broccoli for another use.

Assemble the salad

1. Use one hand to hold a sturdy silicon spatula to stir the dressing-vegetable mixture while using the other hand to add the cooled pasta, one handful at a time, into the bowl. Watch to see that the dressing doesn’t start to thin out against the pasta. Working steadily, you should be able to incorporate most or all of the cooked pasta into the salad.
2. Working two or three at a time, place the tomatoes on the cutting board. Working carefully, cut each tomato into strips vertically and then cut across the stripes horizontally to form dice.
3. Place the olives on the cutting board with the tomatoes. It is okay if the oils from the olives and the tomatoes mingle. Use your fingers to roughly pull the olives into small pieces.
4. Gently scrape the tomato-olive mixture into the bowl containing the salad. Try to get as much of the flavorful oils into the bowl as possible.
5. Use the spatula to stir the salad so that all of the ingredients are incorporated.
6. Refrigerate until ready to serve.