Delicious Summer Pasta Salad

I work at a non profit organization.  Said non profit (read ME) is compiling a "dancers cookbook" with recipes from famous (and not so famous) dancers from all over the world!  Just to toot my own horn we have Alex Wong from So You Think You Can Dance, Twyla Tharp, Paul Taylor, Karen Kain, Veronica Tennant, Reid Anderson....you get the picture. 

There's been this one recipe from Nadia Potts (former dancer with the National Ballet of Canada) that I've been dying to try since it came in.  In true fashion, I could not make it according to the recipe.....

Nadia Potts Summer Corn & Tomato Pasta by Leslie

You'll Need
1 can kernel corn, drained
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2-3 medium tomatoes, chopped
garlic cloves, minced
fresh cilantro, chopped
green onion, chopped
olive oil
salt & pepper
cooked pasta (rotini, shells, penne)

Corn, beans, tomatoes, cilantro, green onions & garlic

How To Do It
While pasta is cooking, prepare all veggies & herbs and mix together in a large bowl. Let sit for 15 min-2 hours.  Garlic, cilantro, green onion, oil, salt and pepper are all to individual taste.  If you hate cilantro (like I do, but I still used it?!?!) you can substitute it with basil.  This will give it a VERY different flavour-be warned. 

Mince your garlic by hand!!!! Please!  I have a garlic press ( a very nice one from Pampered Chef) that I NEVER USE!  It's too messy and it's a bitch to clean.  Mincing is easy and it keeps less dishes out of the sink-you've already dirtied a cutting board and knife......  The key to good mincing is a a rocking motion, keeping the tip of the knife blade ON THE CUTTING BOARD. In the picture my left hand holds the tip of the knife down while my right hand chops back and forth.  Remember to wipe off your knife blade (the garlic will stick) and also mince in different directions to get very fine garlic IE) horizontally, vertically, on the bias.

The original recipe says to add the corn mixture to the warm pasta and heat through and then to add 1 cup of crumbled feta cheese.  Something about this step DID NOT sound delicious to me-and I LOVE cheese.  So I omitted this addition.

So I rinsed and cooled the pasta and added it to my beautiful bowl of corn, black beans and tomatoes.  I tossed and served.

Both Tyler & I added salt and pepper to our individual servings.  I tried some with Parmesan cheese to see if that would work...it didn't.  I think the flavours are so fresh and crisp that added cheese deadens the flavour. 

It will be interesting to see how it tastes tomorrow, once it has sat and marinated for 24 hours!!!  And it will be properly chilled by then.

I think this would be a great dish to bring to a summer BBQ.  It's definitely easy enough to whip up the night before-which I think I would recommend to let all the flavours meld.