Copyright Alan Puckett, 2022
An asymmetric counterattack against summer heat and food that comes in styrofoam containers. Stores for several days in the fridge if it comes to that.
INGREDIENTS
1 pound of pasta—I like penne, but rigatoni, fusilli, farfalle, etc. will work fine. Even macaroni.
1 large sweet (Walla Walla, Vidalia, etc.) onion. 1 bunch good, fresh scallions will substitute.
1 (or more) sweet, juicy Bell pepper. Red is nice for color, but any variety is fine if crisp and sweet.
About ½ cup raw pepitas (pumpkin seeds). Substitute pine nuts (pignoli) in a pinch or if feeling wealthy.
Sundried tomatoes, diced. I use about ½ of a 3-oz package, but Your Mileage May Vary.
Roughly ¾ cup of pitted Castelvetrano olives, diced. Dump in the olive brine, too—it’s summer, y’know?
1 package (mine was 12-oz) firm feta cheese, drained, rinsed and cut into about ½ inch cubes.
1 bunch fresh parsley.
About ½ cup olive oil.
About ¼ cup apple cider vinegar.
About ¼ cup ginger tea (I simmer slices of ginger root in water, then let them steep. Keeps forever in the fridge.)
A dash of your favorite hot sauce. I like Secret Aardvark Habanero Hot Sauce, but whatever.
A splash or two of cold water if needed to keep the dressing from being gummy.
A pinch of dry mustard powder.
About 1 tbsp coarse salt with thyme, or your own home mix. Just use some salt, OK?
Optional: fresh basil leaves add color and go well in this dish, if you have them. Dill is good too.
Fresh cherry tomatoes are also great added on top when serving.
PROCEDURE
Cook pasta al dente (still a bit firm, so about 9-10 min) in salted water. Drain.
While pasta is cooking stir together oil, vinegar, ginger tea, hot sauce, mustard and salt. Mix ‘em up good.
Stir in pepitas and sun-dried tomatoes so they plump up and become one with the dressing.
Drain pasta and stir in the dressing mix with pepitas and sun-dried tomatoes. Stir it good.
While dressed pasta is cooling, dice Bell pepper, onion, feta and olives.
Stir diced veggies in with pasta as soon as the pasta/dressing mix cools to room temperature. Chop parsley (fresh basil, dill, etc.) and stir in last, so it/they stay/s crisp and don’t/doesn’t cook. Pronouns, y’know? Very important.
Refrigerate and chill until lunch time. Except the cherry tomatoes—you know not to put those in the fridge, right? Just halve or quarter them and dust with salt, then add on top when serving. Sorry, I don’t mean to be pedantic—it’s just that I’ve met people who put their tomatoes in the fridge. Ruins ‘em for sure.
SO WHAT’S THE GUERRILLA PART?
You can substitute just about anything, just about anywhere in this “recipe”. The above is what I’ve arrived at after fiddling with the dish for several summers now. This version seems optimal to my taste but YMMV. I almost never measure ingredients–this is just my best approximation of what went into the latest batch. Which turned out pretty well if I do say so. In the past I’ve made it with anchovies, with different veggies, with garbanzo beans, with different types of cheese, etc. This summer I can’t afford the cherry tomatoes, so oh well. There’s no way to break it. Can’t stand parsley? Leave it out. Gotta have anchovies? Put ’em in. See what works for you, and please let me know if you come up with improvements.
Yeah, I know–a real photographer would use a tripod. But I was so hungry…!
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