Picnic Pasta Salad from Sea and Garden…

Last night my friend and I went to the Hollywood Bowl. Yo-Yo Ma and Placido Domigo were on the bill and the place was jammed to the gills. Placido (I call him by his first name because he is an intimate friend of the sister of an intimate friend…not really, but because he is such a sweet man, warm as toast) took the microphone in the beginning and said it was a banner night for him, his first conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic (I’ve heard him conduct the LA Opera Orchestra and it was wonderful but this was better), his first in the Bowl, his first appearing with his “dear friend, Yo-Yo.” Ma played a Dvorák cello concerto, enomously complex, his face was wreathed in smiles. The second half of the concert was Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony. The night was balmy, the audience adoring, it was a perfect Bowl evening. But the memory of a lifetime came after the Dvorák when Placido and Ma gifted us with an encore, rare these days. Placido sang in French (a song I did not recognize, turns out it was Massenet's “Élégie”) to Ma’s accompaniment…just the two of them on that cavernous stage for about five minutes. The giant screens with a camera close up captured their expressions, their passions. It could not have felt more intimate.
Our supper before the music was simple, starting with cheeses —Saint-André (my fave), double Gloucester, Italian truffle—on toasts, then a seafood pasta salad, then dessert of chunks of perfumed cantaloupe and watermelon, all washed down with a cool Ruffino Pinot Grigio. Oh, and at Intermission, we split a Snickerdoodle.
The salad is worth handing on to you. A charm of the dish is that most of the seashells somehow end up stuffed with bright red dice of sweet peppers, tiny green peas, flecks of sweet basil or minced red onion, a wee pink bay shrimp or creamy scallop. The composition can be made in the morning to eat later, it transports beautifully (keep ice packs around the container), and is easy to eat off a plate on your lap. Black Greek or Niçoise olives are a handsome garnish but not necessary.
Inspired by a recipe in “The Silver Palate Cookbook,” this amount fills a 6-cup container—it was supper for me and my friend, I brought the rest home, and it was supper for me tonight as I watched the sad homages to Ted Kennedy.
Picnic Pasta Salad from Sea and Garden…
Buy about 6 ounces uncooked seafood—your choice of bay shrimps, bay scallops, squid. Also buy a 4-ounce chunk of line-caught Ahi tuna. Cut squid in ½-inch rings, cut clusters of tentacles in half. Leave tuna as is.
Bring 2 quarts salted water to a boil over high heat. Drop in the shrimps and scallops, count 1 minute, scoop out with slotted spoon and place in a colander. Add squid pieces to the boiling water and time 5 minutes, testing the last minute or so, and when tender-chewy, scoop out and add to the colander. Shake excess moisture from seafood and turn into a medium bowl. Drizzle over ¼ cup flavorful olive oil and squeeze in the juice of 1 lime or small lemon. Stir gently. Return the water to a boil* and drop in 2 cups (6 ounces) conchiglie (seashell) pasta—I used Montebello organic (from Whole Foods). Stir and start tasting after 7 minutes, it should be al dente in about 8 minutes. Scoop out, drain in the colander, shake off excess moisture, add to the seafood--keep the pasta water.
Quickly steam the tuna: set on a heatproof rimmed dish on a trivet over boiling water, cover, time 4 minutes (the center should be barely pink when you cut into it), remove tuna—give the juices it exuded to the cat—and cover to keep moist.
For the vegetables, drop ½ cup frozen petite peas into the hot pasta water, stir, scoop out, shake in the colander, add to the bowl. Cut ½ fresh sweet red pepper into small dice, slice ½ cup cherry tomatoes in half, add both.
In the food processor, process 1 to 1½ lightly packed cups fresh sweet basil leaves (as much as you can pull together), about ½ cup fresh parsley leaves, ½ tablespoon dried sweet basil leaves, and about 2 tablespoons olive oil until the leaves are finely chopped. Peel half a small red onion, cut in small chunks, add to the herbs and process in bursts till the onion is minced. Turn this into the bowl with 3 tablespoons drained capers. Cut the tuna into half-inch chunks and add. Toss the salad gently with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Add salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste, and if the flavor still needs point, blend in 1 to 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar or cider vinegar.
Cover tightly and refrigerate up to 24 hours. Best at room temperature. 2 to 3 servings.
*Cooking the seafood, pasta, and peas in the same water not only saves resources but intensifies flavors, I find.