VEGAN, VEGETARIAN, GLUTEN-FREE, NUT-FREE
The best part of Spring and early Summer is the beautiful bounty of vegetables that begin to sprout. I love to see cute little Zucchinis, squash, variety of colorful baby carrots etc. Today’s pasta dish is extremely easy and versatile….. a celebration of Spring!
Take your pick of spring vegetables to use. Pick any pasta you want to use.
The main flavor profile for this dish is plain olive oil which has been steeped with simple aromatics – Mint leaves, Garlic and red pepper flakes.
I always think Mint goes with freshness and crispness a.k.a Spring weather 🌷🌼🌺
Start off with olive oil in a small pan on low heat. Add garlic and red chilly flakes. While the oil does its thing, get the pasta cooking. Parallelly, start a large skillet on high heat and start roasting the spring vegetables. I started off with red onions for the sweetness. Then, I used a mix of baby zuchini, squash and colorful carrots. The advantage of small spring vegetables is they cook very quickly. I wanted to keep the vegetables nice and crisp, so all it took was 5 minutes of roasting on high heat. Add the pasta, add the steeped oil and coat thoroughly. Top off with parmesan cheese or just some more flakes for heat.
This pasta dish has equal quantities of veggies and pasta and will work hot or cold. Take this to your next picnic and see it vanish!
Easy, peasy, lemon squeeze – oh yes – definitely squeeze some fresh lemon to add to the lovely Spring crispness!
Try out other Italian recipes too!
Spring vegetables chickpea pasta
Ingredients
- 16 oz Chickpea Fusilli pasta
- 2 cups Spring Vegetables Baby Carrots, Zucchini, Squash
- 1 Red Onion sliced thin
Olive Oil Dressing-
- 1/2 cup Olive Oil
- 3 pods Garlic sliced
- 1/2 tsp Red Chilly flakes
- 1 tbsp Mint leaves cut into ribbons
Instructions
- Start a small cast iron pan on low heat and add olive oil Add the aromatics and let it steep for 10 minutesTurn off the heat
- Meanwhile cook the pasta as per package directions
- Take a large skillet on high heat, start with sautéing red Onions
- Next add the spring vegetables and roast at high heat until lightly browned yet crisp
- Add the cooked pasta and the olive oil and toss everything together and coat well
- Salt as necessary and top off with parmesan cheese (optional)
- Finally squeeze a lemon and serve!
