multigrain pasta salad with broccolini and feta.

there's something about words. singularly, i even find them wonderful. i have those super cool apps on my iphone. i can wakie-takie my friends, figure out what song's playing on the radio, cook with mama, but my wordbook dictionary is the only app i really use. some people play angry birds to kill time. i look up any unfamiliar 'words of the day' and try to think of ways i can slyly interject them into my conversations. am i a dweeb? no doubt. 

words though, together, as a body, are even better. the infinite combinations of different words with distinctive meanings, syllables and pronunciations make every thought or sentence this new experience of understanding. food, for me, is quite comparable. take a radish. all alone, it's crunchy, peppery, delicious, but throw it into this pasta salad and it's changed. it's still the radish with its same properties but the feta makes you notice it's sweetness, the broccolini forces you taste it's delicacy. 

in many ways you can gain a fresh perspective on the food you eat when it's paired well with other ingredients and, just like with words, semantics are important. this dish would lose valuable flavor {and, i guess, perspective} if it was made without whole wheat or multigrain pasta. the nuttiness of the wheat {and/or grains} offsets the crispness of the vegetables and the sharpness of the cheese. thinking about it, if you used a white flour pasta the dish would most likely be pretty uninspiring, boring even, because like a good sentence, a good ingredient needs those other perfect ingredients to help make better sense of itself.

multigrain pasta salad with broccolini and feta.

serves 6-8

adapted from apicius culinary school {via aaron keller}

• 1 medium shallot, thinly sliced
• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• 1 bunch broccolini {about 10 ounces}, stems cut into 2-inch stem + florets
• 1 bunch radishes, trimmed and very thinly sliced
• 1 box multigrain pasta {or whole-wheat. for pasta salads i tend use rotini, farfalle + macaroni}
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt, plus more tt
• fresh-cracked pepper
• 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 7 ounces of feta cheese, cubed

1. whisk shallots, garlic, lemon juice, lemon zest, 3/4 tsp salt and pepper, tt, in a large serving bowl. gradually whisk in the oil, starting with a few drops and then adding the rest in a steady stream, to make the dressing.
2. bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it generously. fill a medium bowl with ice water and salt it as well. add broccolini to the boiling water and cook until crisp-tender, 2-3 minutes. stir in radish slices, and cook 30 more seconds. use a slotted spoon or strainer to scoop out the vegetables and plunge them immediately into the ice water. drain veggies and pat them dry. 
3. add pasta to the same pot of boiling water, and cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente, about 8-9 minutes. drain.
4. toss the rotini, broccolini, radishes with the dressing. add the feta cheese and toss lightly. serve at room temperature. even better the next day....