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Summer Pasta Salad + Veggies
Serves 4 | Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 40 minutes (if roasting the garlic)
A delicious lunch or dinner to honor that last few weeks of summer. Adapted from the Ecology Center in California.
Ingredients
- 1 head garlic, halved
- 1 box or bag of pasta of your choice
- 1 pint tomatoes
- ½ red onion
- 1 pint summer squash, halved and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 cucumber, halved and cut into 1-inch pieces
- ½ cup olives, halved (I like piccholine here)
- 1 bunch parsley
- 1 bunch basil
- ¼ cup red wine vinegar
- ½ cup olive oil
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
Chef Tips
You can make this without roasting the garlic if you want to save the time here. But I encourage you to make it with the roasted garlic the first time.
Preparation
Step 1
Coat garlic heads with olive oil, set them on a baking sheet and place in the oven at 425º F for about 40 minutes until they become tender. Remove garlic cloves and place in a bowl.
Step 2
Cut squash and cucumber into bite-size pieces, and heat a pan coated in olive oil to high heat on the stove—high heat allows you to quickly get color on one side of the squash and cucumber before the entire piece becomes overly soft and mushy. Add squash and cucumber pieces to the pan with a dash of salt, cook until one side is colored, then remove from heat and add to the bowl with the garlic cloves.
Step 3
Add tomatoes to your pan with olive oil and a pinch of salt, allow them to cook for 2 to 3 minutes until you see coloring on one side and they start to burst. Remove from heat and place in the bowl with the squash, cucumber, and garlic.
Step 4
Cut the red onion into long, thin slices, then roughly chop parsley, and tear basil into chunks. Place these three ingredients together in a separate bowl.
Step 5
Mix the tomatoes, squash, cucumber, tomato, olives, garlic, olive oil, red wine vinegar, and mustard. Salt to taste and let sit for a few minutes.
Cook pasta according to box instructions. Toss everything together in a large bowl.
