Share This Pasta Salad

IT’S THE ESSENCE OF SIMPLICITY— JUST WHAT SUMMER CALLS FOR.

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FOOD CONNECTS ME TO TIME and place. 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 when I get together with my tight-knit group of college friends at my friend Chloe’s house in Bedford, New York, we eat Bedford Pasta Salad.

This food tradition came about by accident. I found myself cooking for my gaggle of friends (as I often do), looking to make something quick and satisfying that could be prepared in advance of a day filled with tennis, pool games, and beer pong tournaments. It was late August, and Chloe’s dad’s vegetable garden was overflowing with zucchini, eggplants, and herbs. Early in the day, I gathered them up and grilled them, along with store-bought peppers and onions, then cut them into bite-size pieces and tossed them with rigatoni and a punchy, garlicky dressing. Served alongside a simple grilled chicken that evening, the pasta salad was a hit—so much so that it became a cherished part of every Bedford get-together from then on.