Food has always connected me to a sense of time and place and belonging. My mom’s onion-raisin pie means it’s Thanksgiving at my aunt’s in Ohio. Tomato-tinted rice takes me to a dining table lined with extended family for a Jewish holiday. I eat Thai takeout on the couch for my birthday. And on the summer weekends where my tight-knit group of college friends get together at my friend Chloe’s house in Bedford, New York, we eat Bedford Pasta Salad.
This cherished food tradition came about through circumstance. I found myself (as I often do) cooking for my gaggle of friends, looking to make something quick and satisfying that could serve a big crowd and be prepped in the morning in advance of a day filled with games and revelry. It was late August when I first made the pasta salad and Chloe’s dad’s vegetable garden was overflowing with zucchini, eggplants, and tons of herbs. I grilled up the vegetables early in the day, with the addition of storebought peppers and onions, and cut them into bite-sized pieces. Mezze rigatoni, the inch-long tubular pasta, served as a perfect vehicle for the vegetables and soaked up the punchy, garlicky dressing.
The pasta salad was a hit, served alongside simply grilled chicken I popped in a garlic-rosemary marinade that morning too. As COVID disrupted our last two years of college, these weekends in Bedford became a respite for us, a place where we could all come together and have fun. Now, nearly 5 years post-grad, we still meet up there and eat Bedford Pasta Salad but now with some new faces too, as some of the original crew lives way across the country and our worlds have expanded.
The tangy and fresh pasta salad conjures up those good times spent with friends that feel like family. And it’s now been shared through networks of friends, and friends of friends, traveling far beyond Bedford, New York, and into the kitchens of our extended community.
Notes from the Food & Wine Test Kitchen
Mezze rigatoni is a shorter version of classic rigatoni. Because of its smaller size, it generally cooks faster than regular rigatoni, but it’s best to check the package directions for accurate cook times to achieve an al-dente texture.
For best results, use peak-season produce. Look for an eggplant that is firm but not hard, with shiny, smooth skin. The stem is also a good indicator of quality and ripeness — it should be green and free of any mushy spots.
Grilling the onions first on direct heat then moving to indirect heat ensures that they are nicely browned and softened; if kept over direct heat the whole cook time, the onions will end up overcooked. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days.
