it’s feeling more like summer here lately, temperature wise at least. so we broke out our little blowup pool, and it’s simultaneously been entertainment (for us all), while also tuckering the kids out which means a bit of peace and quiet when nap time rolls around. joey, our youngest at just over 9 months is now sitting, crawling, pulling himself up on all the things. he loves the water -he could probably sit all day splashing and playing with amesy, it’s probably one of my favorite things to watch.
among other things joey loves is food. all the food! except avocado. i’ve tried giving it to him cubed, mushed up - no dice. he finally ate it in an avocado toast situation and actually enjoyed it (a true california baby i suppose). another thing joey loves is pasta. we don’t have it too often, but the few times i’ve given it to him he’s all about it which is so interesting to me because amesy won’t touch it. anyway, i’ve made this green goddess pasta salad a few times now, and since it’s something at least 3 of us will eat, it’s been on repeat over here, it’s so good!
i always have herb odds and ends leftover at the end of each week. if i’m not chopping them up to throw over our dinner, then they go directly into some sort of sauce. if i have yogurt in the fridge then this green goddess sauce is a go. all you need is herbs, yogurt, and some pantry items to whip this up. it’s one of those easy blender sauces - no soaking nuts, or toasting, or cooling, or hand-chopping. everything goes right in your food processor and there you have it - you don’t even have to chop any herbs. the whole pasta salad takes about 20 minutes start to finish, as we cook the pasta and the veg together in the pasta cooking water. it gets drained and rinsed with cool water, then sauced. you could eat as is or cool it in the fridge for a super refreshing meal on a hot day. or it could just be an easy-to-throw-together dinner for those of you juggling a family and work, and life 😉
big hugs! ❤️
green goddess pasta salad | gf & v
| serves 4 as a side, 2 as a main |
notes: you can use any vegetables you have on-hand here, you can’t really go wrong. make it a typical pasta salad with tomatoes, briny olives, cucumbers, etc. i took things in a very green direction here with broccolini, asparagus, and shelled peas, but there can be so much variety with this green goddess sauce.
i generally like using a chickpea or lentil-based pasta just for some added protein. either pasta tastes great, just make sure you’re cooking it al dente - gluten-free pasta will completely fall apart when cooked too long.
pasta is never enough to sustain me, i generally serve it as a side to a protein-rich dish. you could easily serve it with baked/grilled salmon (save some extra green goddess sauce to drizzle over top!), or roasted/grilled chicken.
ingredients
1 serving vegan green goddess sauce
kosher salt
8 ounces gluten-free pasta
1 cup (5 ounces) broccolini, tough ends trimmed
1/2 bunch asparagus, tough ends trimmed and cut on a diagonal into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup fresh or frozen shelled peas
handful baby arugula
fine salt & freshly cracked pepper
method
take out the green goddess sauce from your refrigerator to take the chill off.
add 2-3 tablespoons kosher salt to a big pot of water (you want the water to taste like sea water) , and bring to a boil. cook the pasta according tp the instructions on the package, until al dente. in the last 2 minutes of cooking, add the asparagus, broccolini, and peas. drain, and rinse with cold water to stop everything from cooking.
dump your pasta and vegetables into a large serving bowl, add a couple pinches of salt, and a few cracks of pepper. drizzle over half the green goddess sauce. toss to combine, until everything is coated. taste and add more sauce if desired.
cover the bowl and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour, or up to 5 hours. before serving toss in the arugula with a bit more sauce, serve cold.
similar recipes:
avocado-kale pesto pasta | v
broken lasagna w/ white pesto | v
vegan caesar pasta salad