End-of-Summer Greek Pasta Salad

 It’s happening: the end of summer is approaching. We had a week of chilly mornings and evening here at the beach—basically just enough to get everyone unpacking their sweaters and reawaken unwelcome memories of pumpkin spice madness and Uggs—followed quickly by two weeks of muggy days with temps reaching into the upper 90s. I’m not complaining though, these last throes of summer have found me kayaking on river and sea, getting my money’s worth out of my swimsuit, and stuffing my face with this delicious salad.

    I really should have made it sooner; this is a perfect take-along for a picnic or barbecue (too bad somebody couldn’t get her recipe-making self together in time to post this for Labor Day....) Anyways, I don’t think it needs that much explanation: it’s healthy, vegan, and like most such recipes, fairly adaptable. No green pepper? Use celery. No tomato? Whatever, entire cultures survived and continue to thrive without tomatoes. Heck, you could even leave the pasta out.

I guess what I’m saying is, there are no excuses for not making this pasta salad before all the fresh vegetable go away and the culinary half of the internet is taken over by recipes involving cinnamon and squash.

 End-of-Summer Greek Salad

2 cups uncooked whole wheat pasta, such as rotini or macaroni

1 cup chickpeas, cooked

½ a tomato, cubed

1 large carrot, grated

2 radishes, thinly sliced

½ a medium-sized cucumber, diced

¼ of a green pepper, diced

1/8 a cup kalamata olives, sliced (or to taste)

1/8 a cup Trader Joe’s tahini sauce*

2-3 tbsp hummus        

2 tsp cumin

1 tbsp salt or 2 tsp salt + 1 tbsp kalamata olive brine

1 tbsp dill, dried

½ tsp onion powder

½ tsp garlic powder

While pasta is cooking, chop and prepare vegetables, putting it all in a medium-sized bowl. Rinse cooked pasta with cold water and add to bowl with the rest of the ingredients, including spices. Mix well, and adjust seasonings to taste. (By the way, I strongly recommend substituting olive brine for some of the salt, it adds great flavor).

* If tahini sauce is unavailable, 2 tbsp tahini + 1 tbsp lemon juice is probably a good equivalent.

PASTAAAAAA.