The Store Pasta Salad

Adapted from The Store Cookbook : Recipes and Recollection from "The Store in Amagansett" by Bert Greene and Denis Vaughan

Serves 6 to 8

This is a recipe I got from my friend Lee Friedman. She used to buy this pasta salad from The Store in Amagansett when she spent summers in East Hampton. She and her friends did everything they could to reproduce it without success until The Store Cookbook was published, and there was the recipe with its secret ingredient, G. Washington Brown Bouillon Powder, published for all to see. I can't get that in my grocery store now, so I just use a dab of Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Base.

The Store Pasta Salad

1½ teaspoons salt
8 ounces penne rigate (the original recipe calls for ziti, but now I use penne with ridges because it holds the dressing so well)
1/4 cup milk
1 red onion
A handful of grape or cherry tomatoes - the equivalent of 2 whole tomatoes 
6 sweet pickles (size of pickles depends on how much you love sweet pickles) 
2 small green peppers or 1 small green pepper and 1 small red pepper
1 large shallot
½ cup sour cream
1½ cups mayonnaise
A little "dot" of Better Than Bouillon Vegetable base in place of the original 2 packets G. Washington Brown Bouillon Powder (2 packets from a box, not 2 boxes)
3 grinds fresh pepper (black or white)
Dash of wine vinegar - red or white, your choice (I usually use white)
1 tablespoon sweet pickle juice (from the jar of pickles)
A handful of roughly chopped fresh dill (this is an important ingredient so don't leave it out)

Cook the pasta in plenty of boiling salted water to which you have added the oil. Cook until al dente.

Place the cooked pasta in a bowl, add 1/4 cup milk to thoroughly moisten the pasta, and toss.

Chop the onion, pickles, and peppers into ¼-inch cubes. Mince the shallot. Cut the small tomatoes in half or quarters. Set aside.

Beat the sour cream and mayonnaise together until creamy. Whisk in the vinegar and the pickle juice, then add the bouillon, salt to taste (remember the bouillon powder is salty), and the black or white pepper. Whisk again, and thin with a little milk, if necessary. Reserving some, pour over the pasta. Add the shallot, pickles, and green peppers. Mix well.

Chill until serving time. I usually find the pasta has absorbed most of the dressing so I toss it again adding what I have reserved. Just before serving, stir in the tomatoes, and cut fresh dill over the top with kitchen shears .