Back when Ben and I were first married, we’d pack up our picnic basket and plastic wine glasses, and head downtown to a free jazz concert every Thursday night. Appropriately named: Jazz in the Park. There we’d lounge on blankets, sip wine and pretend to be French. Most weeks our friends would join us and we'd all bring wine and food to share.
On one Thursday night, my friend, Shelley brought along this pasta dish; what I now refer to as Jazz in the Park Pasta. Alternately, my Jazz in the Park contributions usually included ingredients found on the shelves' of gas station mini marts, like Velveeta cheese and Ritz crackers. Because you eat cheese and crackers with wine, right?
A few kids, and a basic understanding of food preparation later, we no longer go to Jazz in the Park. However, we still eat Jazz in the Park Pasta. It’s easy to prepare, feels good in the belly and is mayo-free, so you can let it sunbathe at summer picnics.
But the real reason I like making this dish is because of the sun dried tomatoes. I like to eat them with my fingers, straight from the jar, while I’m shredding the cheese. Here we go-
What you need:
- 1 box of Rigatoni noodles
- 1-2 pounds of shredded Mozzarella cheese
- 8 ounces of shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1 pound of chopped tomatoes [I prefer halved cherry tomatoes]
- Chopped sun dried tomatoes to taste [the kind in the oil]
- Chopped fresh basil [Italian parsley works too]
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
What you do:
- Cook pasta al dente [You need to know how to boil water to make this dish.]
- Drain and rinse pasta with cold water.
- Let pasta come down to room temperature [or at least cool off to prevent cheese from melting.)
- Mix pasta and ingredients together in large bowl.
- Best served room temperature [I’ll nuke leftovers in the microwave though.]
We ate Jazz in the Park Pasta the other night and washed it down with this five dollar-ish bottle of Barefoot Pinot Noir. [That's right, the lady who once brought Velveeta cheese and Ritz crackers to cultural events is now making wine recommendations.]
