Veggie Pasta Salad

Late May, Memorial Day weekend. The farm is in its fullest spring: the apple trees with their tiny fruits set, the lilac fragrance waning as the blooms age out, the garden coming up everywhere you look. The cold crops are at their peak — the kale and chard and lettuces at their spring best before the heat of July changes them. I've been eating from the garden every meal, which is the point of the garden and the reward for the whole year's preparation.

Made a simple spring tart this weekend: asparagus (still going, the bed giving its final spears) with ricotta and fresh herbs in a flaky pastry shell. The kind of dish that belongs to this exact week in May, that couldn't exist in October and doesn't quite come together in March. The ingredients have to be in their specific moment for the thing to work. Cooking from a garden teaches you to cook in time rather than outside of it.

Carol called to report: the climbing rose has put on four inches of new growth in a week. The peonies are coming up strong. The Japanese maple is settling in. The memorial garden is doing what planted things do when they've been given good soil and the right conditions: becoming themselves. I said: let it take its time. She said: I know. She's more patient about this than I expected, which says something about what the planting meant to her. You're patient about things that matter.

Teddy texted: he's been accepted to a summer cooking intensive — a two-week program at a culinary school in New Haven. He's fifteen and he got in. I texted back: go. He texted: I know, I just wanted to tell you. The telling is the thing. I was the person he wanted to tell. That means something.

The tart was the centerpiece, but the weekend table needed something that could sit out and be picked at — something that held up through the afternoon and let people come back for more without any fuss. A cold veggie pasta salad is exactly that: a way to take what the garden is handing you right now and turn it into something that feeds a crowd without pulling you away from the lilacs and the light. And with Teddy’s news still warm in my chest, I wanted food that felt like abundance — generous, unhurried, meant to be shared.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 10 min | Total Time: 30 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

12 oz rotini or fusilli pasta
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup cucumber, quartered and sliced
1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup yellow bell pepper, diced
1/3 cup red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup black olives, sliced
1/2 cup fresh or blanched broccoli florets, cut small
1/4 cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chiffonade
1/3 cup Italian vinaigrette dressing (store-bought or homemade)
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt and black pepper to taste
1/4 cup grated Parmesan, for serving (optional)

Instructions

Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente, 8—10 minutes. Drain, rinse under cold water to stop cooking, and shake dry.
Prep the vegetables. While the pasta cooks, halve the tomatoes, slice the cucumber and olives, dice the peppers, and thinly slice the red onion. If using raw broccoli, blanch for 60 seconds in the pasta water before draining the pasta, then rinse cold.
Combine. In a large bowl, toss together the cooled pasta, all prepared vegetables, parsley, and basil.
Dress the salad. Pour the vinaigrette and red wine vinegar over the salad. Add the oregano, then toss thoroughly to coat. Taste and adjust salt and pepper.
Chill and rest. Cover and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes before serving to let the flavors come together. Toss again before plating and finish with Parmesan if using.

Nutrition (per serving)

Veggie Pasta Salad — A Garden Table in Late May