Adventures in Food: Greek Pasta Salad

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I didn't start learning to cook until I was 24 and recently married and now, almost three years on, my culinary skills are still a work in progress. I've retained more than I realized from watching my mother, grandmothers and mother-in-law at work, but it's nearly impossible to ask any of these wonderful ladies how they make their food. Measurements? Pah. They spit on measurements. Everything is by eye or a occhio. A typical conversation will go something like this...

Me: "This is great. Can you tell me how to make it?"

Them: "Sure! A little bit of flour, some oil, un pugno (a fistful) of salt, three or four eggs--"

Me [pen poised over scrap of paper I managed to find in my freakishly large day bag]: "Wait! Wait! How much flour? Is that, like, a cup of oil or a tablespoon?"

Them: "How should I know?"

Me: "No, how should I know? I'm asking you, remember?"

Them [usually shrugging their shoulders unapologetically]: "You can't measure these things. You just know."

Me: "Right."

They might know, but I certainly don't. I begin to perspire as visions of overflowing pots and inedible experiments dance in my head. Staring fear in the eye I decide to bravely soldier on.

Me: "Okay, so then what?"

Them: [They go over forty-five steps at light speed, without so much as taking a breath] "...and then you put it in the oven. That's it. Easy."

Me [wondering if Webster's has changed the definition of "easy"]: "So, how long do you leave it in the oven?"

I'm grasping at straws at this point, well aware that I can neither remember what they told me nor replicate it in any acceptable way.

Them [casual shrug]: "Until its ready."

Of course.

Me [a little desperately]: "But how do you know when it's ready?!"

Them: "You just know."

And that's it. My introduction to cooking. It's been a trial by fire, as they say, although the trial is to avoid the kitchen fires. So I've done my best to cobble together some instructions, recipes and recommendations, while keeping my eagle eyes open to see what tips I can pick up by watching. Like I said, it's a slow process. I've used some recipes to guide me, but as I get more comfortable in the kitchen I find myself going down the road of doing things by eye, substituting on the fly, and not really knowing how I ended up with what I did. In short I'm turning into them.

All in all my journey in the kitchen hasn't been that bad. I can think of only one occasion when the fruit of my labour wasn't actually edible--a misstep with stuffed artichokes I'm happy to forget (we ended up eating fried eggs that night instead). This year I wanted to try to challenge myself to try out new recipes and expand my horizons, but I haven't been as religious about it as I wanted to be. Time constraints mean I'm always falling back on some great fail safe recipes, among them the pizza my husband loves and easy pasta dishes like one of my faves: fusilli with broccoli.

This weekend, though, I decided to try something different. For my nephew's birthday party on Saturday I was determined to actually make something to bring rather than buying something like I usually do. (I like no muss, no fuss and a certainty that the finished product will actually be edible). I figured pasta salad, which surprisingly I had never attempted before, would be an easy enough crowd pleaser and so I started trawling the internets for a recipe.

Of course, being me I couldn't just stop at one. Maybe it's the influence of the ladies in my life, who knows. I ended up making a Greek Pasta Salad that was a mishmash of about five recipes I found. Happily everyone seemed to really like it and so I made it again for a barbecue I was headed to on Monday and, what do you know, another success! I love this because its relatively quick and easy (the most labour intensive part is some chopping) and fool proof, which I need. So without further ado...

Greek Pasta Salad

{Please ignore the bad cell phone quality pic - will get my camera fixed one day soon!}

Ingredients

1 package of pasta (I used fusilli)

1/2 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar

3 tablespoons dried oregano

3 tablespoons garlic powder

2 tablespoons dried basil

2 tablespoons black pepper

2 tablespoons sugar

1 red pepper, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

2 green onions, minced

20-25 grape tomatoes, quartered

1 can of sliced black olives (4 oz), drained

crumbled feta, about 2 cups

Directions

1. Boil water (I add salt and oil) in a large pot for the pasta. Cook pasta until al dente (I don't like it too soft).

2. Add first batch of ingredients (oil to sugar) to a large bowl. Whisk together.

3. Add second set of ingredients along with pasta (after you've drained it). Mix together and you're done. Refrigerate overnight.

The first time I made this I only had time to refrigerate it a couple of hours. The second time I let it chill over night. While the first batch was good, I found that the flavors were much stronger with the last batch. I'm not sure how many this recipe serves, exactly, but it makes a pretty big bowl -- good for at least ten people.

Buon Appetito!


I'm going to watch SATC tonight -
I really hope it's good!

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