Summer Pasta with Veggies Recipe

When the weather starts warming up and I’m looking for something light and full of delicious veggies for dinner, I turn to what we refer to as Summer Pasta with Veggies. This quick and easy dinner is full of healthy veggies and is a great way to clean out the fridge because you can put almost anything into it. The recipe that I have below is merely a suggestion and a basic guideline. I generally feel that cooking is an art and baking is a science which means when you’re cooking, the “some of this and some of that” method is perfectly acceptable. I never follow a recipe exactly but have endeavored to use specific measurements for those of you who don’t follow my slackadaisical attitude towards cooking.

This recipe is vegetarian but can easily be made vegan. You can also add meat to it. I am vegetarian and my husband is not, so I make mine as is and then cook up either chicken, shrimp, or bacon for his. Sometimes a combination of all three. I bet this would also be amazing with scallops.

Make sure that you have a sauté pan large enough for all your veggies and the pasta. I use my big wok for this and it works great. Pasta really is best when it has been sauteed with the sauce or seasonings as it will soak up some of that yummy flavor.

Ingredients

Typically, whatever I need to use up in my fridge goes into our Summer Pasta with Veggies with a few exceptions. I don’t usually use anything with really strong flavors like green peppers because I feel they overpower all the other flavors. This doesn’t mean that if you love green peppers, you can’t add them. This is just my preference. I do almost always use roasted sweet peppers, though.

Other veggies I don’t use are cucumbers, turnips, parsnips, and beets (gross). I did use some bok choy once and wouldn’t recommend it. Definitely not my favorite.

There are, however, many veggies that I think are perfect for this dish. 

• Broccoli
• Carrots
• Peas
• Snow peas
• Snap peas
• Brussels sprouts
• Kale
• Spinach
• Cherry tomatoes
• Sun dried tomatoes
• Green beans
• Asparagus
• Zucchini
• Spaghetti squash
• Yellow squash
• Mushrooms
• Sweet peppers or roasted red peppers
• Onions (always)
• And probably a million others that I can’t think of off the top of my head.

Spice It Up

Let’s discuss seasonings for a second. This dish can be as seasoned or not as you like. Sometimes, all I use is garlic, salt, pepper, and a handful of fresh basil. Other times, I’m feeling spicy, and I will throw in some crushed red pepper. I almost always use my Super Nutritious Herb Blend for this recipe because I want the added nutrition boost and the flavor works really well. You can also use Italian seasoning. I blend my own and keep a mason jar of it on-hand. You can get that recipe here.

How To Make Summer Pasta with Veggies

So, the basic idea for this dish is that you sauté all the veggies up with some olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, Italian-type seasonings and then toss it with cooked pasta. We usually prefer bowtie. I put a handful of baby mozzarella pearls or chunks into a bowl and then cover that with the pasta and veggies. I don’t usually put the moz in while I’m cooking everything because it only sort of melts and gets all stringy and gloopy.

Here’s a little more step-by-step if you like and I will have a complete recipe below.

It’s best to have all your veggies collected and chopped up before you start cooking. I find this dish is best if everything is just barely cooked to keep that fabulous, fresh, summer flavor. As I’ve stated, you can pretty much use any veggies you want, but I recommend always using onion, cherry tomatoes, and something green.

Once you have everything prepped and ready to go, start by sauteing 1 chopped onion in about 3 tablespoons of olive oil until it is well on its way to being caramelized. Once it is pretty well cooked, add garlic if you are using (highly recommend) and the rest of your veggies according to how long they take to cook and how cooked you like them. Things like broccoli take a bit longer than say, kale, so the broccoli usually goes in right after the onions are mostly cooked. You can pour in some water and place a lid on your pot to steam the broccoli a little bit to move it along. Once the broccoli is at least warmed up, add in carrots, zucchini, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, and any other veggies that take a bit to cook. I don’t usually put in things like spinach, kale, roasted red peppers, or tomatoes until right at the very end.  This is also when I put in my spices.

If it is looking a little dry, add in more olive oil or throw in a few spoonfuls of the water you cooked your pasta in. Oh, I forgot. As I almost always do. Please don’t forget to cook your pasta while you are cooking the veggies. I have done this so many times and then all the veggies just have to sit and get mushy while you cook the pasta. I have started trying to remember to start water boiling for the pasta before I even start cooking the onions because I have forgotten so many times.

Ok, so if your veggies look a little dry, you can add some pasta water because the starch from the pasta will thicken up into a little bit of a sauce and it’s delicious!

Now toss in your cooked pasta and sauté it all a bit and serve!

Here’s the breakdown…

1. Gather up whatever veggies you are going to use and get everything chopped up.
2. Start water boiling for pasta and cook according to the package.
3. In a large sauté pan or wok (this is my preferred cooking receptacle for this), sauté onions.
4. When they are pretty well cooked, start adding in other veggies.
5. Season to taste.
6. When the veggies are either completely cooked or 95% of the way there, toss in the drained pasta.
7. Serve in pasta bowls with fresh baby mozzarella and enjoy!