June 2024:

Name: Secret Ingredient Pasta Salad
Ingredients: 1 pound pasta; Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper; 1⁄4 cup olive oil, plus more; 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced; Crushed chili flake, a dab of harissa paste, your favorite hot sauce, anything spicy; 1-2 pounds any type of tomatoes (preferably the smaller ones on the vine), quartered; ½ to 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes (!), chopped, sliced, whatever*; 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar; 1⁄2 red onion, sliced (not too thin); 2 tablespoons capers, optional; 2-4 ounces roughly chopped pecorino or parmesan cheese, optional

RECIPE OF THE WEEK FROM HIGHFIELD HALL & GARDENS STAFF, GAIL BLAKELY

Summer on Cape Cod means lots of meals alfresco, and here is a perfect recipe for the beach, the deck, or just a picnic blanket. Alison Roman originally published this pasta salad in 2020, although I only just discovered it this spring. This is perfect for when you are asked to bring a side dish, or to have in the fridge for a quick dinner with a grilled protein. I especially like it with grilled Italian sausage—if there’s any left, I slice it and add it to whatever salad remains.

Roman says that this is a salad with only a few ingredients that really pull their weight and then some: “quickly cooked tomatoes become juicy and jammy, giving us that give us a sauce for which to coat the noodles, vinegar-marinated (not quite pickled) red onion for crunchy texture, savory acidity and punchy raw onion flavor (a hallmark of a good pasta salad), a discreet amount of capers for brininess (I am flexible on these), optional crumbled little hunks of salty parmesan or pecorino, and, of course, a secret–a gorgeous, sun-dried little secret.”

Please make this with a short tube shape pasta, like campanelle, radiator, or rigatoni—and do NOT omit the capers! But then, I will never know…

Secret Ingredient Pasta Salad

Ingredients

1 pound pasta
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1⁄4 cup olive oil, plus more
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Crushed chili flake, a dab of harissa paste, your favorite hot sauce, anything spicy
1-2 pounds any type of tomatoes (preferably the smaller ones on the vine), quartered
½ to 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes (!), chopped, sliced, whatever*
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1⁄2 red onion, sliced (not too thin)
2 tablespoons capers, optional
2-4 ounces roughly chopped pecorino or parmesan cheese, optional

Instructions

Cook pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water; drain and set aside (if you’re worried, drizzle with a little olive oil to prevent noodles from sticking- but pasta should still be warm when you dress it so don’t do this too far in advance). Meanwhile, combine onion and vinegar in a small bowl and season with salt and pepper and set aside.
Heat ¼ cup olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
Add garlic and season with salt and pepper. Cook, swirling the skillet occasionally, until the garlic is tender and just starting to brown, 3 to 4 minutes.
Add your spicy something of choice, add the fresh and sun-dried tomatoes, capers, and season with salt and pepper.
Cook, tossing occasionally until the fresh tomatoes are just burst and juicy (you can use a spatula or wooden spoon to encourage them to break down if they started out especially firm), 5 to 8 minutes.
Combine pasta and tomato mixture in a large bowl.
Add your marinated onions, drizzle with a bit more olive oil and season again with salt, pepper and more of your spicy something if you like.
Toss, toss, toss until every piece of pasta is evenly coated.
Let it sit for 10 minutes or so and toss it again. Think of it as marinated pasta, knowing that the flavor will change a bit as it sits. You can eat this immediately, but it’s truly better after a few hours, cold or at room temp. This is perfect “eat out of a container” food. Just top it with lots of cheese before eating and drink with something cold and effervescent.

Notes

Sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil (the oil is delicious and can be used to cook with) are best, but the dry sun-dried tomatoes also work– no need to re-plump or rehydrate them before using, they’ll do their thing in the skillet.

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