This easy vegetarian pasta is full of brilliant hacks

By Melissa Clark, The New York Times

What is it about pasta salad that makes it such a divisive dish? Is it that the many bad versions out there — soggy noodles swathed in bottled dressing and tossed with wan vegetables — make good ones hard to imagine? Or maybe since the dish reached peak popularity in the 1980s, the entire category seems about as glamorous as a home perm on a humid afternoon.

Given this prejudice, I will not call this dish of cavatelli, corn, tomatoes and red onions a pasta salad, even though it’s a snap to throw together, highly portable and equally good hot, room temperature or straight from the fridge.

The most salad-y part about it, though, is how little cooking is involved. While your pasta (cavatelli or any other small, easy-to-fork shape) boils, you can…