Garden Pasta with Italian Vinaigrette
This is an easy & colourful garden pasta with all my favourite vegetables. The pasta was tossed in a pleasantly tangy and flavourful homemade Italian vinaigrette. It is super quick to make and great for helping me clear the weekly salad veggies in the fridge.
Related Recipes:
- Low Carb Italian Vinaigrette Recipe
- Kenny Roger’s Garden Pasta Recipe
- Italian Garden Salad with Baked Egg Recipe
See Also:
STEP-BY-STEP PHOTOS
MAKING THE ITALIAN VINAIGRETTE PASTA DRESSING
The base pasta sauce is an Italian vinaigrette made with olive oil, red wine vinegar, dried Italian seasoning, honey (I used zero-calorie pancake syrup as a low carb substitute), salt & pepper. Whisk or shake it in a bottle until well combined. This dressing works for both pasta & salad and can be prepared in advanced. You can check out more photos in my Italian vinaigrette recipe.
STEP-BY-STEP PHOTOS
Cook spiral pasta (fusilli) in a pot of salted water until al dente. Reserve a small cup of pasta water if not using chicken stock to bind the pasta later.
Drain the pasta and add them to a large mixing bowl.
Add sliced red onions, halved cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced peppers, quarter moon cucumber and shredded carrot. I’m lazy so I’m basically using any vegetables that do not require cooking.
Pour the tangy Italian vinaigrette slightly thinned with some rich chicken stock (or pasta cooking water) …
… and some grated Parmesan cheese.
Mix together until well combined. This pasta can be served either at room temperature or chilled. It tastes pleasantly tangy, ultra-refreshing and also keeps well for a night in the fridge.
Garden Pasta with Italian Vinaigrette Recipe
The Italian vinaigrette for dressing the pasta can be made ahead of time and kept in the fridge for about a week. You can also replace with any store-bought Italian dressing.
The garden pasta can be kept chilled in the fridge for about 2 days.
Ingredients:
- 150g spiral pasta (fusilli) or any favourite pasta
- 2 tsp salt for cooking pasta
- 15 cherry tomatoes halved
- 1/4 Japanese cucumber cut to quarter moon
- 1/4 red onion sliced thinly
- half bell pepper cut to long thin strips
- 1 generous handful shredded carrot
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese & a bit more for garnishing
- 1 tbsp rich (tetra-pak) chicken stock (or pasta cooking water) add more if needed
Italian Vinaigrette Pasta Dressing
- 1/4 cup (50 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegar) to taste; build up 1 tsp at a time if needed
- 1 tsp zero-calorie pancake syrup (or honey/maple syrup/fine sugar) to taste; omit if you like it super tangy
- 1/2 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1/8 tsp salt to taste - freshly cracked black pepper to taste
Directions:
- Make Italian vinaigrette dressing by combining the ingredients in (A) in a food mason jar.
- Cook pasta in a boiling pot of water with 2 tsp salt added until al dente. Drain the pasta and cool it down under running water. Reserve half a cup of pasta cooking water if not using chicken stock to bind the pasta later.
- Make the pasta. In a large bowl, add cooked pasta, cherry tomato, cucumber, onion, bell pepper, carrot and Parmesan cheese. Whisk or shake the Italian vinaigrette dressing and pour it over the pasta. Add chicken stock or reserved pasta cooking water to bind the pasta together. Season to taste.
- To serve, grate a bit more Parmesan cheese over the pasta. This pasta can be served chilled or at room temperature.
Cooking Note(s):
- Check out my Italian vinaigrette recipe for more detailed ingredients photos and step-by-step photos. You can also use any store-bought Italian dressing as a short-cut, but I really love home-made dressing as I can tweak the tanginess and flavour to my liking.
- For al dente spiral fusilli, minus about 1 minute or more from the recommended timing on the packaging. Mine took exactly 6 minutes 30 seconds.
- You can use other seasonal vegetables at home for this recipe such as boiled broccoli florets, sauteed zucchini, celery and basil.