You’ve just read the title and are probably thinking “How in the world do those two magnificent things fit together??”
Well, Saturday Zack and the Germans drove up to meet me and a few friends to go to the DMB concert at Jiffy Lube Live. Of course I panicked about not having enough food for the tailgate, so I put myself in charge of this crucial aspect.
For a tailgate when you spend hours in cloying 90 degree heat you need something, light, fresh, but obviously still filling. Cue my pasta salad:
Gather your cherry tomatoes, give them a quick rinse, and slice in half. I made two boxes of pasta, so I used a pint of them.
Next up, crush 10 cloves of garlic. Don’t laugh, I’m serious! I know that seems like enough to wipe out a colony of vampires, but garlic is the main flavor so you’ll need a lot.
Oh and please, please don’t buy the jarred garlic. Just buy the already peeled cloves if you want to save time.
Cook your pasta al dente (I like the shapes with this kind of dish) and leave to drain.
Pop your garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper into the pot you cooked the pasta in (less dishes yes!), and let shimmer away until fragrant. We just want to cook the raw garlic taste out.
Add in your tomatoes for just a few minutes so they start to soften.
Pour that delicious infused oil and tomatoes over the pasta and toss toss toss to combine. Season to taste and thank me later!
I love this pasta with fresh corn and basil stirred in, but get creative and use any fresh vegetables you have!
I ladled the pasta into a container, packed up the cooler, and went to meet up with the Germans. We packed the trunk to the brim and headed off to the concert.
It got a little too sunny out, so the boys draped a blanket over the seats they pulled out from the minivan. German engineering at it’s finest.
Of course I volunteered for grill duty.
Freddy taught us how to drink a beer “German Style” aka by shaking it up and piercing it with a screwdriver….
After 4 hours, yes 4, of eating and drinking, we walked over to the concert. It was insanely packed; a vendor told me there was 18,000 people there!
Zack got realllllyyyy into the music and showed us his best moves.
Dress from Free People, currently on sale at South Moon Under! You can probably tell by my intimate knowledge of current sales that I’ve been doing a lot of online shopping lately.
How cute are they??
The concert wrapped up and instead of waiting in that awful line to get out of the venue, we decided to fire up the grill.
We talked, laughed, drank, and ate until we were dozing off in our chairs (those minivan seats are comfier than they look!), and then we trekked back home.
It was such an amazing night with great people, food, and music. Did anyone else go??
Cherry Tomato-Garlic Pasta (serves 6 as a side)
- 1 box pasta (I like Barilla rotini)
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 5 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1/2 pint cherry tomatoes
- Salt and pepper to taste
1. Chop your cherry tomatoes in half
2. Cook your pasta al dente (tells you how long on the box) and drain
3. Add your olive oil, salt, and pepper to the empty pasta pot, and cook over medium heat until the garlic is fragrant.
4. Spill in your cherry tomatoes and cook for a minute until they soften. Pour mixture over pasta and toss well. Season with salt and pepper again to taste.