Light summer pasta salad
Fresh, vibrant and full of flavour. This will become a staple side dish for all your summer BBQs I guarantee! The simple act of cooking and cooling pasta increases the fibre content due to an increase in resistant starch. This is great for balancing your blood sugar levels and means you avoid that post pasta crash. It’s packed full of vegetables and makes a lovely change to the standard coleslaw and potato salad.
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 red pepper
1 courgette
1/2 red onion
1/2 salad bag of rocket
150g fusilli pasta
Fresh or cooked petit pois
Cherry tomatoes
Sun dried tomatoes
Capers
Parmesean
Mustard, basil, lemon and olive oil
Method
Cook the pasta in salted water, drain and then leave to cool in the fridge.
Turn your oven up to its maximum temperature, take the whole red pepper and stab with a knife. Place into the oven until its nice and charred on the outside. Remove and peel off the skin and slice into small pieces, removing the stalk and seeds. It’s a little effort but so delicious!
Slice the courgettes into thin disks. Heat a griddle pan and cook the courgettes until they are nice and coloured. Slice in half again and leave to one side.
Take the pasta from the fridge, mix in the roasted peppers & courgettes, chopped cherry tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, capers, peas, thinly sliced red onion and rocket. No strict measurements here so judge by eye. Grate in a good amount of parmesan cheese, season with cracked pepper.
Dress the salad with a vinaigrette made of lemon juice, fresh basil, a little mustard and olive oil. Top with good shavings of extra parmesan.
You can leave in the fridge until serving and its still good the next day.