PASTA SALAD (or PASTA FRESCA)

This is by far my favourite summer dish. Yesterday, third summery day in a row, I couldn't resist... I was craving for some Pasta fresca, so I made it for dinner!!
My best Italian friend made this Pasta for me a long time ago and since then I've made it every summer. If kept refrigerated, it's still good one or two days after you've made it. Like the rice salad it's a nice idea for a pic-nic.


Ingredients for 4: 

300 g pasta (penne rigate or fusilli)
600 g ripe tomatoes (I use Red Choice tomatoes)
100 g Kalamata olives
A few basil leaves
1 clove of garlic
250 g mozzarella
50 ml extra virgin olive oil
chilli (optional)

First of all, make the sauce:
Put the tomatoes in boiling water for 1 minute, then peel them and discard the seeds. Skew the clove of garlic in a toothpick and put it in a bowl. Add the chopped tomatoes ,the chopped mozzarella, the olives, the chopped basil , some salt and extra virgin olive oil.

Bring a pan of water to the boil, add some salt and cook the pasta. Drain it in a colander and put it under running cold water to cool it off.

Add the cold pasta to the sauce, stir and put it in the fridge for a couple of hours.
Before serving, remember to discard the garlic!

If you don't like cold pasta, you can put the drained pasta in the bowl, stir and serve immediately. In this case, make the sauce a few hours earlier and put in the fridge. The pasta it's much tastier.