Pasta is my favorite dish, so quick to cook and easy to season that would be on my table every time I can cook at home. If I only didn’t need to feed my body with nutrients other than carbs!

It’s (also) a matter of laziness, I guess. To try out new and more exotic recipes I need to go through different preparation steps and have quite a few ingredients on hand. Moreover, I don’t know about you, but in my pantry there’s always (ALWAYS) one fundamental ingredients that doesn’t show up. No response.

So I would hardly give birth to any recipe if I didn’t have to share with you my culinary adventures. It’s because of my blog (and you) that my diet is not all about pasta and pizza (or rice. I have a past of addiction to rice, but this is another story…). I am training myself to be flexible (as much as an Italian can be) for the good sake of my space here. Since I blog I even write down a shopping list. Sometimes.

pastasummer-0223

At this point you already know that my cooking routine in the kitchen quite often doesn’t require many ingredients. Doesn’t happen to you too to be too hungry to commit yourself with elaborate recipes? Pasta is perfect for those evenings when you’re starving (I say STARVING) but a drop of energy still stops you from going for a ready meal. Pasta it is my healthy fast food.

pastasummer-0225

While cooking this pasta salad I asked myself: what’s wrong with sharing something really easy and familiar to me? Something so simple that I never thought to blog about. I could not find a sensible answer so I grabbed my camera and took a few shots of my homie meal.

p.s. You may have noticed I don’t complain about weather conditions anymore. I complained enough when I shared my recipe of the homemade yogurt ice-cream, and the vegetarian burrito, and the coffee banana smoothie… ok, ok, I might have expressed disappointment about the weather in 80% of my blog posts (!). But you know what? I’ll stop.

I moved to Canada! I’m going to stay in this amazing country for a few weeks. Sky is clear blue with fantastic fairy-tale kinda bright white clouds and a very hot breeze. A breeze almost not breathable. I think next blog post deserves an accurate complain about the level of humidity in Ontario :).

p.p.s. Some people suggest to “Drain and rinse the pasta with cold water”. Rinse with cold water? I wouldn’t do that. Sure, you would quickly cool down your pasta by rinsing it under cold running water. However rinsed pasta would lose its quality, both in terms of flavor and nutritional properties. I would rather wait a bit or store it half an hour in the fridge before serving it. This is a top secret tip, so let’s keep it between me and you ;)!

Summer Pasta

Ingredients

  • 200 gr pasta I used penne
  • 1 cup cherry tomatoes
  • 1 diced zucchini
  • 1/2 cup sliced black olives
  • 1/2 cup peas
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 lime for juicing over the salad
  • 1/4 cup chopped parsley
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

  • Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water and stir in the pasta. Cook until al dente. Drain with a colander and set aside.
  • While the pasta is cooking, cut all the veggies.
  • In a large bowl, mix pasta with all the ingredients. Pour olive oil over pasta salad and stir until salad is well coated. Season with salt and squeeze fresh lime juice over. Serve at room temperature or chilled (store it half an hour in the fridge before serving it).

Join the Conversation

14 Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Rate the recipe




  1. Haha I know what you mean by STARVING. When you get home and literally run into the kitchen and open the fridge, throwing together whatever you can for a fast and satisfying dinner. This pasta dish looks gorgeous. This and your greece photos are making me very jealous and craving warmer weather and cool summer foods.

    1. Hi Kiersten, as I said some people do that (even in Italy :)) so if you don’t mind to wash off some gluten and salt from the surface of your pasta (hopefully not to porous) it’s OK! However, if you have time let it cool down naturally after you have drained it well and seasoned with oil and other ingredients ingredients. Alternatively, put it in the fridge and remove it at least 30 minutes before serving so as to avoid the “fridge flavor”. Looking forward to seeing your recipe tomorrow!