This recipe I came up with as an answer to “meatless Monday’s” that we have been doing at our house. This is great to do for summer as it lightens up your week and is a healthier alternative to always eating some type of meat. This pasta came out so delicious and easy to make that we will definitely be enjoying it again and again and I had to share it with all my mama friends! I hope you and your family enjoy it as much as we do!
All you need is some of your favorite veggies, herbs and some good quality olive oil and parmesan and you are all set to make this. This is an awesome recipe if you have a garden and have lots of extra veggies around. You can easily mix and match the combination in here.
Here is what I used that night. I had an eggplant, zucchini, red and yellow bell peppers and an onion. For my herbs I had fresh basil and I had some wonderfully peppery arugula that we are lucky enough to get fresh from my in laws garden. I used a chunk of parmesan cheese that I had and I shaved it with a vegetable peeler. But you can also use Asiago, Romano or whatever hard table cheese you like and you can also grate it in instead of shaving it.
I just sliced up all of the vegetables individually and tossed in a bowl with olive oil, kosher salt and pepper. Very simple seasoning before grilling. This just helps bring out the natural sweetness of the vegetables and keeps them from sticking on the grill
You can grill these on an outdoor gas/charcoal grill as I did, or you can use a grill pan in the house. Either way this recipe will be delicious. It is totally just preference. You want a nice char and grill marks on the vegetables so that you get a wonderful smoky, grilled flavor.
This is what the veggies will look like after they are grilled. If you are working with a partner, as I was lucky enough to have my hubby grilling these for me; than you can cook your pasta while your vegetables are grilling. Or if you have a grill that also has a burner on it, you can boil the water right on that. Pick whatever pasta you like for this. I used penne because that is what we had. It also goes really nice with all the vegetables and grabs the light olive oil sauce well.
At this point you will just dice all of your vegetables into a small to medium dice and put them into a large mixing bowl. You will then chop your herbs and grate or shave your cheese into the bowl as well. Toss in your pasta and a few extra tablespoons of olive oil. You can serve this pasta hot, room temp or even as a chilled pasta salad. I garnished it with a little extra arugula and shaved parmesan.
Dig in!!
[lt_recipe name=”Grilled Summer Vegetable Pasta” summary=”This is a super easy dish that can be made for two or to please a crowd. Serve it warm or cold and put any combo of veggies in that you prefer.” servings=”4″ total_time=”30M” print=”yes” ingredients=”1 medium eggplant;1 medium zucchini;1 red bell pepper;1 yellow bell pepper;1/2 Spanish onion;1 cup arugula;4-6 fresh basil leaves;2oz chunk parmesan cheese or 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese;Extra virgin olive oil for tossing vegetables and 1-2 tablespoons to toss with pasta;Kosher salt, to taste;freshly cracked black pepper, to taste;1/2lb uncooked penne pasta” ]Wash and slice all vegetables into manageable pieces to grill. I like to leave the skin on the vegetables for this preparation, but if you prefer you can peel first. ;;In a large mixing bowl, toss the vegetables with olive oil, Kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper. Lay on a foil lined baking sheet.;;Grill the vegetables on an outdoor gas/charcoal grill or inside on a cast iron grill pan. Make sure that you get good grill marks and char slightly.;;Meanwhile, cook your pasta according to the package directions and roughly chop your herbs and set aside.;;Once the vegetables are grilled, diced them into bite sized pieces and put into a large mixing bowl. Add your chopped herbs, 3/4 of your arugula and 1/2 of your shaved or grated parmesan cheese. If you are serving warm and immediately, toss your pasta into this mixing bowl and toss all together with tongs. If you are serving as a cold pasta salad, run your pasta under cold water to cool down and then add it to your bowl and toss with all ingredients. At either point, when you are tossing your ingredients all together, drizzle in your 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil.;;Divide amongst your serving bowls and garnish each bowl with additional arugla, shaved parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil. Otherwise, serve family style in a large bowl with a nice little mound of arugula and shaved parmesan and drizzle of olive oil.;[/lt_recipe]
