Mediterranean Pasta Salad

Ingredients

• 12 ozfarfalle
• 9 ozbaby plum tomatoes, quartered
• fresh basil, leaves torn
• 3 tbspextra virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 ozgreen olives, sliced
• 7 ozmozzarella balls, drained
• 7 oztuna, canned, drained and broken into chunks
• salt, to taste
• black pepper, generous grind, to finish

Method

1. 1

   Bring a large pan of well-salted water to the boil, add the farfalle, stir once, and cook for about 10 minutes or to the packet timing.

2. 2

   Drain it into a colander and run cold water through until the pasta is cool, so it stops cooking and does not clump.

3. 3

   Quarter the plum tomatoes into a salad bowl, tear the basil leaves over them and turn them through 1 tbsp of the olive oil.

4. 4

   Add the cooled pasta with the sliced olives, the drained mozzarella and the tuna broken into chunks, and mix it all through.

5. 5

   Leave the bowl to stand for at least half an hour. This is not idle time — it is when the tomato juice and oil become a dressing.

6. 6

   Just before it goes to the table, grind black pepper generously over and trickle the last of the olive oil across the top.