Sweet Pasta Salad

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• 1 lb. penne pasta
• 1 clove garlic, quartered
• 1 tbsp. salt
• 1 cup packed fresh parsley
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp. curry powder
• 1/2 tbsp. sugar (don't add more than this!)
• 3/4 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 1 cup sliced and pitted Kalamata olives
• 2/3 cup dried currants
• 2/3 cup toasted pine nuts
• small basket of cherry tomatoes

Cook pasta in a lot of salted water until just tender to the bite. Don't overcook it. When it is ready, drain it and rinse it under cold water to keep it from cooking any more. (If you're in a hurry for this, then dump the pasta into a large bowl of ice water.)

Blend garlic and salt to a paste in a blender. Add parsley and mince.  Blend in lemon juice, vinegar, curry, sugar, cumin, and pepper.  While the blender is running, slowly add olive oil in a thin, steady stream. It should take at least 30 seconds to add the oil.

Pour the dressing over the pasta. Add the onion, olives, currants, and pine nuts.   Chill two hours for flavors to blend.

Garnish with cherry tomatoes and serve.

This comes from UC Berkeley (the link appears dead now, used to be: http://soar.Berkeley.EDU/recipes/salads/pasta/pasta-currant1.rec) posted by Karen Mintzias. They credit Edena Sheldon in "Bon Appetit" August, 1991.