serinde

(Yeah, I'm all Posty McPoster today.)

This pasta salad was something Kathryn and I threw together for lunch not long ago, and I just reproduced it for the block party on

sweh's street. I am much pleased with it; it's tasty, it's healthy, it's not overgoopy and bloating like so many pasta salads, and Goddamn it's easy to make.

1 lb. box of macaroni, rotini, or the like
1 bag of Trader Joe's frozen sugar snap peas--almost as good as fresh!
1 pint cherry tomatoes
2 ears of corn, or the equivalent in canned/frozen if you must
2-3 T. of cider vinegar
~1c. soy mayonnaise
~3 T. herbs de provence
salt & pepper

Cook the pasta al dente, drain, put in BIG HONKING mixing bowl. Put the frozen peas in and toss--the heat from the pasta will thaw them, and they'll bring down the temperature of the pasta so you don't have to wait around for it to cool.

Boil the ears of corn (this is only a few minutes! Don't overcook, it's unpleasant). When they're done, run them under cold water for a bit so you can cut off the kernels without burning your fingers. Add the kernels and the cherry tomatoes to the pasta, and mix.

At this point, it gets a bit subjective: add the cider vinegar, the soyonnaise, a good whomp of herbs, and salt & pepper, and mix up. Obviously this is all going to be to taste, but the above is a reasonable benchmark. You want it to be creamy but not gloopy; tangy but not acrid, etc.

Cubed cold roast chicken breast makes a nice addition if there are no vegetarians involved.