Poolside pizza pasta salad a busy mom’s idea of summer entertaining

Of all the things that fell off after I had a kid, entertaining at home dropped the most precipitously. I loved having people over for dinner, cookbook club and brunches themed to whatever tennis Grand Slam final we were watching. To say I feel guilty about those not happening anymore would be an understatement. It’s one thing to hear how your friendships change when you become a parent. It’s another to watch it happen to you — and feel helpless to stop it.

The obstacles can seem insurmountable. One is sheer exhaustion. Having a full-time job while being a parent is enough to sap any ounce of extra energy I may have previously been able to direct to whipping up a three-course meal in my kitchen. Then there’s the weekend schedule bingo of birthday parties, Little League games, grandparent visits, grocery shopping, meal prep and whatever else comes our way. Finding time to cook for other people? There aren’t enough hours in the day.

But truly, the most practical reason is the state of my house. It’s not awful. It’s not gross. It’s just always got an air of post-Tasmanian Devil tornado about it. Shoes that have accumulated by the door, homework on the kitchen table, dog toys strewn around the rug. Tidying up each night is, well, laughable. We have a lot of stuff and not a lot of house. Do other people’s put-together places make me feel bad that mine is less so? Yes. Would any of our friends judge me for it? Probably not. Yet here we are.

Recently, I had a revelation. It started when we spent a long day with our son’s best friend and his parents, stretching from the morning farmers market to an afternoon baseball game and then an evening trip to the neighborhood pool. Somewhere, dinner needed to happen, and the place was most likely going to be the pool deck.

The pasta salad I was already planning to make — serves a crowd, customizable, best when chilled, easy to eat — became the ideal option for an alfresco dinner for six. I also roasted the cauliflower languishing in the fridge, chucked some drinks and clementines into the cooler, packed up the compostable plates, and trundled over to the pool. There was no table to set, no last-minute tidying to do. It was glorious.

As we sat around eating and talking in the late-spring twilight, it hit me: I didn’t necessarily need to have people in my house to have people over. And it didn’t have to be elaborate, either. If it didn’t fit in a cooler or tote bag — or was too fragile for outdoor dining — it wasn’t coming. And, of course, it doesn’t have to be at the pool, either. You can host like this anywhere you can roll up to an outdoor table, bench or patch of grass fit for a picnic blanket, whether that’s your patio, a park, the beach or a schoolyard playground.

The meal went over so well that I decided this would be my summer of pasta salad. (Pasta girl summer?) Emboldened by my “entertaining” success and anticipating many more evenings at the pool with my social elementary school kid, I sensed an opportunity to reinvent how I host and take the pressure off.

If I was going to serve pasta salad, I wanted it to have a bit of panache. My mind flew to pizza, another family-friendly pool dinner. To capture that spirit, I loaded up rotini with mozzarella pearls, diced pepperoni, sun-dried tomatoes and fresh cherry tomatoes. My favorite feature: the dressing that used the fat rendered from the crisped pepperoni and the oil from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes, plus generous amounts of dried basil and oregano for that classic pizza flavor. The first attempt was … fine. After we tasted it, I subjected myself to the no-nonsense interrogation that 8-year-olds specialize in. If it was pizza pasta salad, where was the crust? What about the melty cheese?

Point taken. The crust I couldn’t do much about. But the cheese? Well, he was right there. And the overall balance was off in my initial test, with too much pasta and not enough “stuff.” Taking inspiration from the frozen tortellini I’d used at our impromptu pool party, I grabbed a bag of dried three-cheese tortellini — the smaller size is even better for pasta salad since they’re on par with the other ingredients — and increased the amount of both types of tomatoes, the pepperoni and the dressing. One bite and I knew I’d hit on something.

To make sure, I handed off samples to the parents of my son’s other best friend (and likely future dining companions). “This straight up tastes like good pizza,” read the text verdict from one. “I would eat a whole bunch of that,” said the other. And my son? “Really good,” he opined, a coveted, low-key rave.

It was a perfect, if unintended, callback to what he said after our poolside dinner, which reminded me of everything I want these gatherings to be about. “That was really fun,” he’d said. “Especially the chatting at the end.”

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Pizza Pasta Salad

½ teaspoon fine salt, plus more as needed

12 ounces dried cheese tortellini*

5 to 7 ounces pepperoni, diced

One (7-ounce) jar oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, preferably in olive oil

2 cups (10 ounces) cherry tomatoes, halved

8 ounces mozzarella cheese pearls, preferably vacuum-packed*

3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more as needed

¼ cup red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon honey (optional)

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Pinch crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

Fresh torn basil leaves, for serving

Shaved or finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, for serving

Bring a medium (4-quart) pot of salted water to a boil. Add the tortellini and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender throughout, about 1 minute more than the package instructions for al dente.

Line a plate with paper towels and set it near your stovetop. In a large (12-inch) dry skillet over medium heat, cook the pepperoni until crisp and the fat renders, 6 to 8 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the pepperoni to the prepared plate to drain, reserving the fat in the skillet.

Remove the sun-dried tomatoes from the jar. Reserve the oil, coarsely chop the tomatoes and transfer them to a large bowl. Add the cherry tomatoes, mozzarella and pepperoni, and stir to combine.

Pour the reserved pepperoni fat (about 1 tablespoon) into a medium bowl or lidded jar. Add the reserved oil from the sun-dried tomatoes (about 2 tablespoons), then the olive oil. You should have about 6 tablespoons of fat total, but if you’re a bit short, add enough olive oil to make up the difference. Add the ½ teaspoon of salt, the vinegar, dried oregano, dried basil, honey if using (it helps emulsify the dressing), black pepper and crushed red pepper flakes if using. Whisk or shake well to form a smooth dressing.

When the tortellini are done, drain and transfer immediately to the large bowl. Pour the dressing over the top and gently stir to combine. Serve, or cover and refrigerate until needed. (The flavor will deepen as it chills.) When ready to serve, stir in the fresh basil and Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Servings: 6-8 (makes about 10 cups)

Make ahead: For a more developed flavor, prepare and refrigerate the salad, up until adding the basil and Parmigiano-Reggiano, for up to 1 day in advance. Storage: Refrigerate without the basil for up to 4 days.

Substitutions: For tortellini, use fusilli, rotini or other medium pasta shape. Can’t have pork? Use beef or turkey pepperoni, or skip it and use an additional 1 tablespoon of olive oil to replace the rendered fat. For diced pepperoni, use sliced pepperoni, coarsely chopped. Can’t find oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes? Use about 1 cup (5 ounces) sun-dried tomatoes, along with 2 tablespoons plain olive oil instead of the oil from the jar. For mozzarella, use crumbled feta or fresh goat cheese (chèvre). For red wine vinegar, use white wine vinegar. Instead of two types of dried herbs, use just one or the other, or an Italian seasoning blend. For Parmigiano-Reggiano, use pecorino Romano or grana padano. For cherry tomatoes, use grape tomatoes. For honey, use agave.

*Notes: We preferred dried tortellini here for its smaller size, but if what you have is fresh or frozen, use that. If all you can find are water-packed mozzarella pearls, simply drain and pat them dry before using.

Nutritional Facts per serving (1¼ cups), based on 8, using 5 ounces pepperoni | Calories: 461; Fat: 31 g; Saturated Fat: 10 g; Carbohydrates: 30 g; Sodium: 975 mg; Cholesterol: 66 mg; Protein: 17 g; Fiber: 4 g; Sugar: 2 g

— Becky Krystal