Pasta Salad with Italian Flavors

(This article originally appeared in the July 2005 issue of LaBrea Living Magazine.)

A summer pasta salad with a simple and easy secret (Original Title)
by dale reinert, food editor

My recipes within La Brea Living Magazine thus far have been based on nostalgic recollections and local discoveries. But my "Pasta Salad with Italian Flavors," served at summer cookouts and family barbecues, is a recipe born from a mix of nervousness and self-awareness.

My closest friends -- 4 couples self-termed, The Usual Eight-- are all good cooks. Each couple excels at hosting gorgeous parties with generous meals. Potlucks are feasts for both the eyes and taste buds. Birthdays are almost always made special by tasty restaurant fare and homemade befores and afters.

One such summer celebration some six years ago saw me having the task of bringing some kind of salad, but not greens, since greens had already been assigned. So, I pondered. I thumbed through the Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Library. Nothing grabbed me. I glanced through Vegetables by Peterson and How to Cook Everything by Bittman. Nada. Zip. No triggers had been tripped. No socks were rolling up and down.

Perplexed, paralyzed, even afraid to make an appearance, I prepared to feign illness. Back then, my best recipes lay in meats, entrees, a handful of desserts, and maybe a few vegetable dishes, especially autumn and winter side dishes. But summer salads, without greens, were beyond alien to me.

The lure of three or four hours of laughing and visiting with the Usual Eight was too tempting and too enjoyable an event to be missed. I needed to go, to laugh, to overcome my inexperience with salads. I had learned that whenever I am fearful of something, the very fear is the reason to push forward, gain the experience and knowledge, and conquer the fear. With every fear conquered, the soul is strengthened.

So, off I went to the grocery seeking inspiration. Though, in my back pocket, I carried the option of copping out and buying something pre-made.

Wandering the aisles, something popped into my head. A pasta salad. A flavorful mix of crunchy, cool vegetables, soft and mild-mannered cheeses, and round, full-flavored meats all bound together by a light and zesty dressing with an al dente pasta.

Suddenly images buzzed past my mind's eye: black olives, sun dried tomatoes, salami, bell peppers. Yes, I would make a pasta salad!

The cart began to fill with all the ingredients: Chucks of meat from the deli counter; fresh and eye-appealing red, green and yellow green peppers; crisp scallions and a red onion that washumungoushumungous. Now all I needed was to make a garlicky, zesty dressing.

Wait! A dressing! I did not know how to make a dressing. But just has panic descended on me, I remembered a food secret that Mary, a school secretary from my Midwestern days, had whispered ever so secretly at her daughter's graduation party. The best dressing for Italian Pasta Salad is a bottle of your favorite Wishbone Italian Dressing.

My mother uses the fat free variety. My sister insists on the low carb flavor. I use the original. Read the label and pick the one best suited for you. Here's the recipe. Oh, and by the way, the Usual Eight loved it.

Pasta Salad with Italian Flavors

Ingredients
1 pound dry multicolor, corkscrew pasta
1 pound of Roma tomatoes, deseeded and cubed
1 can white cannelloni or garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed thoroughly

1 pound chunk of each of the following (cut into a bite-sized cubes):
Genoa-style Salami
Sopprasetta-style Salami
Mozzarella Cheese
Provolone Cheese

Dice each of the following into 1\4 inch pieces:
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 red onion

1 bottle Wishbone Italian Salad Dressing
Freshly ground black pepper and kosher salt to taste

Procedure
1. This recipe requires strict adherence to mis en place prepare all ingredients before cooking the pasta. Cut the cheeses and salamis into bite-sized pieces and place in bowl.

2. Bring a large stock pot to a rolling boil. Season the water with kosher salt. Add the pasta and stir frequently. After five minutes, taste a piece to check for doneness. It is of critical importance that the pasta be slightly under cooked, so it retains is shape under the weight of heavier ingredients, like meat and cheese, and so it absorbs the flavors in the dressing.

3. Dice to a 1/4 or 1/3 inch size the green, red, and yellow peppers and the red onion. Slice the scallions and Italian flat leaf parsley. Place all these items in the bowl of cheeses and meats.

4. Cut the tomatoes in half crosswise. Squeeze the jelly and seeds out and then quarter or cube each half. Place in the bowl with the rest of the ingredients.

5. Open the can of beans. Pour into a fine mesh strainer and rinse thoroughly under cold, running water.

6. Drain the pasta. Do not rinse off the excess starch. The following steps are crucial:

a. Pour the pasta into a container or bowl that can hold all the pasta salad ingredients.

b. While the pasta is still steaming, pour one cup of the Italian salad dressing over the pasta and stir to coat. Season liberally with Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

c. Next gently stir in the vegetables.

d. Now incorporate the drained and rinsed beans.

e. Finally, after the mixture cools to room temperature, then add the meats and cheeses and stir until well distributed.

7. Use more of the dressing to adjust the moistness to your liking. Add more the day after to re-awaken the flavors in the salad. I typically use one entire bottle in the course of the lifespan of the salad.