I just love summer pasta dishes! They are great crowd pleasers and generally involve recipes that can be made without spending all day in the kitchen. Because let’s be real – summertime is meant to be spent outdoors, not in the kitchen. So naturally my goal with this recipe was to really keep it efficient and time saving!
Incorporating summer vegetables, I created this dish as a spin on my mother’s recipe. I chose asparagus and zucchini, which are my two favorite seasonal picks. What I love about this dish is how the ribbon vegetables intertwine with the pasta to create so much volume with tons of nutrients. The ribbon vegetables get added into the pasta water and the two ingredients cook side by side so that their flavor marries together. While I prepare the ribbon vegetables I cook the cherry tomatoes in the oven with fresh garlic. These ingredients, which caramelize in the oven, will give the pasta lots of flavor and fragrance.
Let’s talk oils: I use two types of oils in this recipe NOW’s Ellyndale® Avocado Oil and Olive Oil. Firstly, whenever buying oil you want to make sure its 100% avocado oil or olive oil. No fillers. A lot of times brands/companies will add seed oils as fillers to bring down the cost of oil. NOW conducts identity testing on their oils to ensure they’re pure. I love using avocado oil for cooking because it is heat stable and has a high smoke point, making it a very healthy oil to cook with! Olive oil is a great finishing oil – it is ideally used “uncooked” on salads, drizzled to finish off a dish etc..because it doesn’t have as high of smoke point.
Now to the main character of this dish – the pasta! The pasta aisle can be super overwhelming but, just like oils, it is key to make sure you check what’s actually in the products. For example, gluten free pastas often have corn fillers, which can be hard on the stomach. Always check the ingredients when you purchase pasta. The ingredients are listed in order of highest to lowest quantity. Don’t be tricked by labels! What I love about NOW’s Organic Quinoa Pasta is that it never has any fillers and offer a mix of healthy grains- Ingredients: Organic Rice, Organic Quinoa, Organic Amaranth. NOW is always a brand I can always trust! Use code RUNONVEG for 20% off nowfoods.com (valid through 12/31/21) I absolutely love their pasta in this healthy hearty dish. Enjoy!
Recipe
- 8 oz quinoa pasta
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes
- 5 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 green zucchini
- 1 yellow zucchini
- 4 carrots -cleaned and peeled
- 1 bunch asparagus (about 1-2 cups only use the tips)
- 3 tablespoons avocado oil
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Salt to taste
Direction
- Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
- Line a tray with parchment paper and place cherry tomatoes and garlic on the tray. Drizzle with 3 tablespoons of avocado oil and place in the oven. Let cook for about 45 minutes at 400 until tomatoes are blistering. Once cooked set aside
- Using a vegetable peeler make lengthwise strips (ribbons) with the zucchini and carrots. Place in a bowl and add asparagus
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add pasta
- Cook pasta according to directions and the last 5 minutes of cooking add zucchini and carrot ribbons and asparagus tips.
- If using grain-based pasta be sure to rinse thoroughly once it’s done cooking.
- Now place pasta in a large serving bowl add roasted tomatoes and garlic. Drizzle with olive oil and additional salt to finish.
