Pasta Salad

Gluten free pasta salad that stays soft in a lunchbox. Cook it a minute past al dente, rinse it cold, and dress it warm so it does not clump.

Makes

4 lunches

Hands on

20 min

Start to finish

50 min

Keeps

3 days in the fridge

• 8 ozgluten free short pastaA corn and rice blend holds its shape cold. Pasta made only from brown rice turns chalky once it chills.
• 3 tablespoonsolive oilOne goes on the hot pasta, the other two go in the dressing.
• 2 tablespoonsred wine vinegarNot malt vinegar, which is made from barley.
• 1 teaspoonDijon mustardIt holds the dressing together so it does not slide off cold pasta.
• 1garlic clove, grated
• 1 cupcherry tomatoes, halved
• 1small cucumber, seeded and dicedScrape the seeds out or there is water in the bottom of the container by day two.
• 1 cupsmall mozzarella balls, halved
• 1/2 cupsliced salami or pepperoniOptional. Read the ingredient line once per brand, since a few use wheat as a binder.
• 1/4 cupgrated parmesan
• 2 tablespoonschopped basil or flat leaf parsley
• salt and black pepper

1. Boil a large pot of salted water and cook the pasta one full minute past the al dente time on the box. Gluten free pasta firms up again as it cools, so pasta that is right hot is hard at noon.
2. Drain it and rinse under cold running water, lifting it with your hands, until every piece is cool to the touch. This takes off the loose surface starch that glues the pieces into a block.
3. Shake the colander dry, tip the pasta into a bowl and toss it with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil while it is still warm.
4. Whisk the remaining 2 tablespoons oil with the vinegar, mustard, garlic, a heavy pinch of salt and some pepper.
5. Pour the dressing over the pasta while it is still slightly warm and toss. Warm pasta pulls dressing in, cold pasta sheds it.
6. Fold in the tomatoes, cucumber, mozzarella, salami, parmesan and herbs.
7. Chill at least 30 minutes, then taste it cold and add more vinegar and salt. Cold flattens seasoning.

1. Stir it in the morning before it goes in the box. The dressing settles overnight and the top layer dries out.
2. Fill the container close to the top. Pasta salad with room to slide around arrives with smashed tomatoes and smeared cheese.
3. Send a real fork with a handle. Spearing short pasta with a flimsy plastic spoon eats up most of a twenty minute lunch period.
4. Pack it with an ice pack. Cheese and cured meat sitting warm in a backpack for five hours is the part most schools have a rule about.

• The pasta is chalky and hard at lunch. It was pulled at al dente, and gluten free pasta firms up again as it cools.
• It comes home as one clump. It was not rinsed cold, so the surface starch set like glue.
• The dressing is pooled in the bottom. It went on after the pasta was fully cold, when it can no longer take it in.
• There is a puddle in the bottom by day two. The cucumber went in with its seeds.

Two things to check. The pasta needs to say gluten free on the box, and it needs its own water: boiling it in the pot that cooked wheat pasta, or draining it in the colander used an hour ago, undoes the rest of the work. Then the vinegar. Red wine, white wine, apple cider and distilled vinegar are all fine, but malt vinegar is made from barley, and bottled Italian dressings sometimes list it, which is why this dressing gets made in a bowl instead. If you add salami or pepperoni, read the ingredient line, because a few brands use wheat as a binder.