The first time we cooked this pasta fredda (Italian for cold pasta salad), the whole Gusti team was in our Bronx HQ and we needed a 5-minute lunch solution. Is this a recipe? Unsure. The hardest thing about this pasta is waiting for the water to boil. The easiest? Getting your hands on the best ingredients in town. If you mess up that step, the whole thing is ruined.
When we cooked this, the Gusti team practically ran out the office to dive right in because we couldn’t wait (gluttons, that’s right). But please, DO prepare it one day in advance and let it sit in your fridge. The flavor will be even more outstanding the next day!
One jar of Sicilian Sugarello is enough for half bag of pasta. We use both the fish and its extra virgin olive oil to dress this dish: there couldn’t be a better use for this jar than to be emptied out onto a bowl of carbs. When you join juicy Piennolo tomatoes, umami black olives, floral Pantelleria capers, and chubby fillets of wild Sugarello with steaming Caserecci pasta… the explosion of Mediterranean aromas is unbelievable.
PS: Cook your pasta veeery al dente, let’s say 6 minutes. The pasta will keep cooking once you mix it with the other ingredients and you don’t want a mushy pasta salad, trust us. We particularly love Caserecci Faella for their chewy texture and ability to trap bits of the condiments in their crinkles.