This is a very easy-to-make salad, an excellent choice for eating on these extraordinarily hot summer days. (And months, apparently… global warming is telling us it has arrived in New York!) A good pasta salad is refreshing, healthy and very tasty — it helps us feel better in this heat!
RECIPE:
1 pound rotini — we used a brand called Ronzoni, which comes in a one-pound box
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
2 tablespoons white wine vinagar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons lemon peel
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
6 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups chopped plum tomatoes
10 ounces drained can chickpeas
4 ounces feta cheese (crumbled)
1 teaspoon salt (to cook with the pasta)
Black pepper to taste
A good amount of water in a pan (for cooking the pasta)
HOW TO MAKE IT:
Bring a good amount of water to boil — about 20 cups. When water starts boiling, add pasta and salt, and stir a bit. Let it cook for 9 minutes. Past the 9 minutes, drain it in a colander and rinse it with cold water.
While pasta is cooking, chop the vegetables that need to be chopped, and crumble the feta cheese. Now, in a big bowl, combine the parsley, vinegar, lemon juice, lemon peel and garlic, and slowly whisk it in oil. Now it’s time to add the pasta, the feta cheese and the chickpeas, tossing and blending well. You can season your salad with salt and pepper to taste — we didn’t need extra salt in our salad, because the cheese is salty enough to our taste.
Refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving — 8 people.
In a bowl, whisk salad dressing slowly.
