Vegan Pasta Salad with Mediterranean Vegetables
This pasta salad is teeming with Mediterranean vegetables, olives, and olive oil, and takes me back to the Greek islands, my favourite travel destination. Healthy and filled with the flavours of summer, this is the perfect June lunch.
Ingredients
- 250 g pasta wholewheat or normal
- 70 g mixed seeds
- 1 small brown onion finely chopped
- 60 ml olive oil extra virgin
- 1 tbsp olive oil halved
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 2 courgettes thinly sliced
- 250 g baby plum tomatoes halved
- 50 g pitted black olives
- 1 can chickpeas drained
Instructions
- Add the pasta to a saucepan with a little bit of salt. Bring to the boil and simmer for 8 minutes, or until al dente.
- Meanwhile, in a large frying pan over a medium heat, dry toast the nuts until they start to sizzle and pop quietly and smell fragrant and nutty. This should be about 3 minutes. Place to one side.
- In the same pan, heat ½ tbsp olive oil. Add the finely chopped onion and cook over a low-medium heat for 4 minutes, until soft and golden.
- In a small bowl, mix together 60ml olive oil, the cooked onion, garlic, and lemon juice. Mix well, and put to one side.
- In the same pan, heat the remaining ½ tbsp oil. Raise the heat to medium-high and add the sliced courgette. Fry for 5 minutes until starting to brown, stirring occasionally to avoid sticking.
- Add cooked pasta, courgette, tomatoes, olives, chickpeas and dressing to a large bowl. Mix well. Serve either warm or place in the fridge for an hour to cool. Sprinkle with the toasted seeds for serving.
Notes
This is a great dish to prepare ahead for the week as it will last perfectly well up to 5 days in the fridge. Add a squeeze of lemon and some seasoning to bring it back to life.
Serve as is, or over a bed of spinach. It's also great with vegan feta!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!