Fresh and simple with clean flavors, this salad has no oil to get in the way of the lemon juice bath that brightens up this bowl of crunchy goodness. And I love trying all the pasta varieties that are now available: quinoa, brown rice, lentil, corn and any others I can find. Of course this “salad” can be made with any type of pasta, but the quinoa penne is nice and silky and holds up well against the crunchy veggies and lemon juice, plus it makes it gluten free if that’s important to you.
You can use canned garbanzo beans, but they won’t have the perfect texture of cooked-from-dried beans that makes this dish special. If you use canned beans, rinse them well and save their liquid (it’s called aquafaba and you can make vegan mayonnaise with it). Also Kirby cucumbers are best because of the superior crunchiness. Needless to say, I recommend all organic ingredients for this dish, especially because you are eating the skins of the veggies.
This is another delicious pasta recipe: Creamy Veggie Linguine
Veggie Bowl with Quinoa Penne
Yield 4 servings
A delicious and easy summer vegan pasta recipe.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces quinoa penne pasta
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
- 4 cups sliced Kirby cucumbers
- 2 cups cooked garbanzo beans
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Sea salt to taste
Instructions
Cook the quinoa penne in salted boiling water for 8 minutes (or as recommended on the package). While the pasta is cooking, add the tomatoes, cucumbers, garbanzo beans and lemon juice to a large bowl. Drain the pasta and run cool water over it to bring it to room temperature. Add the pasta to the bowl with the veggies. Mix well and add sea salt to taste. Serve chilled.
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