Italian Pasta Salad

Italian cuisine is renowned for its pasta dishes, which are many and varied. I enjoy numerous pasta dishes, however, I have to admit that I am not a pasta salad fan per se. If I want to eat a salad, I want veggies, not pasta. However, recently, my friends and I made a sheva brachos for a friend’s daughter (don’t worry, we’ll savor those recipes together yet!), and Rickel S. made a pasta salad the likes of which I’ve never tasted before. Even the men ate it, and we had empty bowls when we cleared off. When I tried it at home, everyone loved it. I made it four times (!!!) that week and served it on Shabbos as well. It came out delicious with whole wheat pasta (regular width) too.

Directions

Snap the pasta in half and cook al denté (a short time). Strain, rinse, and set aside.

Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium flame and sauté the garlic, and scallions together for about two minutes. Pour this on top of pasta.

Add the tomatoes, basil, salt, and pepper and gently stir together. Serve room temperature.

Notes:

This is the original recipe I was given. However, I tried it with both oils and we all preferred the olive oil to the canola oil. I also made it with just 1/8 cup or two tablespoons oil and we found that sufficient. Also, when I doubled the recipe, which I recommend, I put in just four or five tomatoes, not six and did not double the pepper. I also added a little more salt. Do what suits you best.