More Pasta Salad That I Actually Like

Dear Turkey,

You might remember that I have some opinions about what makes a good pasta salad. (Mayo lovers, you will have to agree to disagree with me here if you want to survive the rest of this post). Here is another one:

As you can see, I served this with caprese, so I didn't put any cheese in it (I let people add their own feta if they wanted to).  I love this salad because the white beans, olives, and elbows are perfect salad-size, and they contrast with the crunchy, slightly-bigger cuke pieces.

Awesome not-creamy pasta salad:

2-3 c elbows, cooked al dente (I rinsed them with cool water a little bit because I didn't want to heat the cuke too much, but I also wanted them to be a little warm to help the dressing and the flavors absorb and mix, and also to wilt the parsley)

1 cuke, quartered and then sliced

1 tiny can sliced black olives, rinsed 

1 regular can small white beans, rinsed

1/4 c parsley, cut up small

Dressing (if the pasta is warm enough you can probably get away without mixing this beforehand and just throwing it all in): a few T or 1/4 c olive oil (depending on how much dressing you like), same amount red wine vinegar (I used chianti red wine vinegar), 1 t salt, 1 t pepper, 1 T sugar (start with less if you don't want it too sweet; I think dressings should be sweet), 1 T lemon juice.

Feta, optional

This was really good slightly warm right when I made it, and it was also really good cold the next day.

Enjoy
Tofu