By Fourth of July week. Tuesday was the holiday and the Sonic was open and was, the way it had been last year, slammed. I worked an eleven-to-seven shift in the kitchen with the wall-AC wheezing and the temperature inside the line over ninety-five for most of the afternoon. The cherry-limeade rush stretched from noon to dinnertime. I made $58 in tips, the most I have made in a single shift to date.
The shift had a different texture than last year’s. Last year I was the new hire, the inside-kitchen new girl learning to ring up cherry limeades. This year Carlos has been giving me more responsibility. He had me running the inside-kitchen ticket window for the first time on the Fourth, which is the position the more experienced employees usually do. The ticket window is the bottleneck of the kitchen — the orders come in over the speakers, the ticket window prints them out, the ticket-window-runner organizes the tickets in the order the food can come out, and the cooks make the food. The ticket window is the position that makes the kitchen run on time. I ran it for eight hours on the busiest day of the year and we did not have a single mis-prioritized ticket. Carlos walked over at the end of the shift and said, kid, you ran that window like you have been doing it for two years. I have been doing it for one day.
And the recipe Sunday was tri-color pasta salad for the back-porch Fourth of July dinner. The Hendersons had their cookout again on the front lawn. Mama and I had ours on the back porch. I made the salad and a tray of grilled chicken thighs and a watermelon that I had bought half-price at Aldi.
The recipe is the kind of cold pasta salad you make for a holiday cookout where the food has to sit at room temperature for two hours and not break down. Tri-color rotini (the kind that comes with red, green, and white pasta in the bag), sliced pepperoni, cubed fresh mozzarella, sliced black olives, diced red onion, diced red bell pepper, all tossed in a homemade Italian dressing.
The math: a one-pound bag of tri-color rotini, $1.49. A small bag of sliced pepperoni, $1.99. A small ball of fresh mozzarella, $2.99 (the most expensive ingredient). A can of black olives, $0.79. A red onion, $0.40. A red bell pepper, $0.99. The dressing: olive oil, red wine vinegar, dried oregano, garlic, salt, pepper, a teaspoon of sugar to balance. Total: about $7.20 for a big serving bowl that fed Mama and me for three lunches and a portion sent up the street to Mrs. Henderson.
The technique on this kind of pasta salad is the cold-water rinse and the dressing-while-warm. You cook the pasta to al dente, drain, and rinse under cold water until the pasta is room temperature (the rinse stops the cooking and prevents the salad from going gummy). Toss the warm-but-not-hot pasta with about half the dressing — the warm pasta absorbs the dressing better than cold pasta. Add the pepperoni, mozzarella, olives, onion, bell pepper. Toss with the remaining dressing. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving so the flavors can meld.
The pasta salad held up beautifully on the porch for two hours through dinner. Mama said, baby, this is what cookout food is supposed to taste like. Mrs. Henderson called me from her porch at eight-thirty to thank me. Eli, who is now seven-and-a-half, asked if I would teach him how to make it the next time I came over. I said yes.
The recipe is below. The trick is the cold-water rinse to stop the pasta cooking and the dressing-while-warm to let the pasta absorb. Make this the night before a cookout. The salad gets better in the fridge overnight.
Tri-Color Pasta Salad
Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 12 minutes | Total Time: 27 minutes + 1 hour chilling | Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 1 lb tri-color rotini pasta
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 cup cucumber, diced
- 1/2 cup black olives, sliced
- 1/2 cup green bell pepper, diced
- 1/2 cup red onion, finely diced
- 4 oz pepperoni slices, quartered (optional)
- 4 oz cheddar or mozzarella cheese, cubed
- 1 cup Italian dressing (store-bought or homemade)
- 1 tsp dried Italian seasoning
- Salt and black pepper, to taste
- Fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the tri-color rotini according to package directions until al dente, about 10—12 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking and cool the pasta completely.
- Prep the vegetables. While the pasta cooks, halve the cherry tomatoes, dice the cucumber and bell pepper, finely dice the red onion, and slice the olives. Cube the cheese and quarter the pepperoni slices if using.
- Combine. In a large mixing bowl, add the cooled pasta, tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, red onion, olives, pepperoni, and cheese. Toss gently to distribute evenly.
- Dress the salad. Pour the Italian dressing over the salad and sprinkle with dried Italian seasoning, salt, and black pepper. Toss until everything is well coated.
- Chill. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving to allow the flavors to meld. Stir once more before serving and adjust seasoning as needed.
- Serve. Transfer to a serving bowl or dish. Garnish with fresh parsley if desired. Serve cold.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 380 | Protein: 13g | Fat: 16g | Carbs: 46g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 620mg