Che Buona Pasta!

In Italian, pasta means lots of things, from what we think of as pasta (spaghetti, rigatoni, etc.) to dough, to a general "good guy" (“è una pasta d'uomo,” literally translates into: he's a good dough of a man). However, one pasta dish that Italians might not know about, or care for, is the kind that is transformed into a cold salad. I learned this before speaking the language or having met any Italians myself. My mom made this dish as I grew up, and she always likes to tell the story about how she adopted it from her Italian-American friend, who first made it for her Italian relatives (taken from a Bon Appetit recipe many years ago). Apparently, it didn't receive much of a warm welcome from the Italians, well, mostly because it wasn't, uh, warm. That's us Americans, right? We like to create a new spin on what’s old. We can make warm pasta? Then we’ll make cold pasta too, please. And so "cold spaghetti salad with fontina cheese" was born!

This dish is easy to make and serves many, making it excellent for casual dinner parties. Extra ingredients like roast chicken or sausage can easily be added to the finished recipe if desired.

Recipe for Cold Spaghetti Salad with Fontina Cheese:
1 1/2-2 lbs spaghetti
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 lb mozzarella, chopped into pieces
1/2 lb fontina cheese, chopped into pieces
2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
6 roma tomatoes, diced
20 leaves fresh basil, washed, cut and dried
olive oil
salt + pepper, to taste
parmesan to taste

Bring water to a boil in a large 1 gallon pot. Salt the water just as it begins to boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente, then drain. While pasta is cooking, add 4 tbsp olive oil to a skillet and add garlic when pan and oil have warmed. Over a low flame, allow garlic to infuse in oil for 2 minutes, then extinguish flame. Once pasta has been drained, return to pot that was used to boil it in. Add garlic and oil to pasta and stir. Add cheese to pasta in pot. It will be very clumpy and difficult to mix. Turn on a low flame and begin stirring pasta. It may take about 15 minutes for the cheese to melt and break up. (Avoid letting the cheese remain in one large clump.) Continue stirring until cheese is largely melted, with smaller clumps of pasta adhering throughout pot. Add tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste, and stir. Turn off heat and remove pasta from stove. Add basil and let pasta cool to room temperature. Serve at room temperature or chill it in the refrigerator and serve cold. Add parmesan to taste, and enjoy!