The Store Pasta Salad

The Store Pasta Salad, adapted from The Store Cookbook: Recipes and Recollection from "The Store in Amagansett" by Bert Greene and Denis Vaughan (Vintage, 1986)

The Store Pasta Salad

Serves 6 to 8

The original recipe calls for ziti, but I now use penne with ridges because it holds the dressing so well. It also called for 2 packets of G. Washington Brown Bouillon Powder, but I use a dab of Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Base instead. It's more easily available, and I always have it in the house. 

1½ teaspoons salt
8 ounces penne rigate 
1/4 cup milk
1 red onion
A handful of grape or cherry tomatoes—the equivalent of 2 whole tomatoes
6 sweet pickles (size depends on how much you love sweet pickles)
2 small green peppers, or 1 small green and 1 small red
1 large shallot
½ cup sour cream
1½ cups mayonnaise
A little "dot" of Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Base 
3 grinds fresh pepper (black or white)
Dash of wine vinegar—red or white, your choice (I usually use white)
1 tablespoon sweet pickle juice (from the jar)
A handful of roughly chopped fresh dill (don’t leave this out—it’s important)

Cook the pasta in plenty of boiling salted water. When it’s done, drain and place in a bowl. Add 1/4 cup milk to moisten and toss well.

Chop the onion, pickles, and peppers into ¼-inch cubes. Mince the shallot. Cut the tomatoes in halves or quarters. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, beat together the sour cream and mayonnaise until smooth. Whisk in the vinegar and pickle juice. Add the bouillon, pepper, and salt to taste (remember the bouillon is salty). Whisk again, thinning with a little milk if needed. Reserving some dressing, pour the rest over the pasta. Add the shallot, pickles, and peppers. Mix well.

Chill until serving time. Just before serving, toss again with the reserved dressing and stir in the tomatoes. Snip fresh dill over the top with kitchen shears.

Note: This is a recipe I got from my friend Lee Friedman. She used to buy this pasta salad from The Store in Amagansett when she spent summers in East Hampton. She and her friends did everything they could to reproduce it without success—until The Store Cookbook was published. There was the recipe, with its secret ingredient—G. Washington Brown Bouillon Powder (2 little packets, not 2 boxes)—published for all to see. I can't get that bouillon powder in my grocery store now, so I use a dab of Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Base instead, and it’s actually an improvement.

Herb and Lee Friedman