Cold Pasta Salad ©

Ingredients   

300 g Fussilli Pasta

480 g (3 tins) tuna, broken up.

2 tbs capers

10 Kalamata Olives quartered stones removed

3 slices of ‘sliced cheese’ (Gouda) cut into small squares

4 tbs grated parmesan cheese

1 medium lemon juice

1 tomato, seeded and cubed

3 tbs chopped parsley

4 tbs olive oil

1/2 tsp salt for Tuna mixture

1-2 tsp salt for pasta water

Freshly grated black pepper added just before serving

Basil leaves for decoration

Method

1. Boil pasta in salted water, until “Al Dente.”  8-10 minutes.

2. Drain and place in serving dish. Drizzle well with olive oil while still hot and a little extra lemon juice.

3. Place all other ingredients in bowl, except for cheeses.

4. When pasta is cold and you are ready to serve, pour tuna mixture and cheese over pasta. This can be done up to an hour before serving.

5. Preparation can be done several hours before. Reserve pasta and sauce in separate bowls in refrigerator.

This is an excellent light summer dish!

N.B “Al Dente” meaning: You can just bite into it, NOT soft! Viva Italia!

Boil salted water for pasta. Add pasta once rapidly boiling. Do not cover with lid, or it will boil over.

Cut sliced cheese into squares and reserve separately, so that it doesn’t soften.

Place capers, stoned olive quarters, cubed seeded tomato, tuna, lemon juice in bowl. Reserve in refrigerator until ready to amalgamate with pasta. You can amalgamate the ingredients an hour before serving once your pasta is cold.

Drain cooked pasta in colander and place hot, in serving bowl. Drizzle generously with olive oil and a little extra lemon juice and leave to cool.

Once cold if not eating straight away, cover with cling film and reserve in refrigerator.

Once pasta is cold, pour over prepared ingredients, together with finely chopped parsley and parmesan and sliced cheese and mix well with two forks.  Taste, drizzle with a little extra olive oil, salt and lemon, if necessary. Add freshly ground black pepper.

It should be really tasty, not bland.

N.B. The pasta can be prepared before hand and topping, but don’t combine until half to an hour, before eating.

Final result!

Serve in a bowl of your choice. Decorate with fresh basil.