Pasta Salad for Summer

While this is a blog about food, I admit that I don't always post as many recipes as I should. There are recipes that one can easily find in a cookbook or online. But there are also recipes that exist only in the mind of the cook. Of course, that doesn’t do everyone else much good. So here’s a “recipe” for a pasta salad I made a recently for a summer dinner party. This is not the first dish I would have formalized into a written recipe, but it is the first one I had remembered to do so. 

N.B. This so-called recipe may be revised in the future. 

OK, I slipped in a little penne regate.

Mediterranean Pasta Salad (this is a made-up name!)

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

1 pint of grape or cherry tomatoes
1 lb. of fusilli pasta
5 oz. or little more than a cup of Kalamata olives 
(pitted--why do recipes always make this point?!)
½ Cup of good extra virgin olive oil (as opposed to crappy)
3½ tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon flat-leaf Italian parsley
6 oz. of feta cheese
2 garlic cloves
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Boil salted water (easiest part!)
Place pasta in boiling salted water

Whilst the water boils:

Slice the grape/cherry tomatoes into quarters
Slice the olives half-wise
Mince the garlic
Chop the parsley

To prepare the dressing, emulsify the olive oil and the vinegar, then add mustard, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper and whisk like hell until you get a good thick dressing

After the pasta has cooled, place in a big bowl and add the tomatoes, olives, feta, and dressing and mix.

Season to taste.

Place in the fridge and let the flavors meld for a good 2-3 hours.

Eat

Note: You may want to consider adding some fresh basil.