I am not a huge pasta person in the summer, but I do like this dish. Pasta is usually heavy and just too much in the summer. But I think this pasta is light and I call it Summer Pasta. I use a protein based pasta from Barilla. I do a very light sauce, just olive oil, pasta water, lemon juice and some cheese. I always get vegetables from the farmers’ market, so I love using some in this dish. What is great about this dish is that you can use whatever vegetables you want. I have used zucchini, yellow squash, peppers, peas and broccoli. I usually just use 3 different kind of vegetables, one always being a pepper. I like the crunch of the pepper.

Happy Cooking ????

Billie

Ingredients

• 2-3  tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp of minced garlic
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 medium size zucchini chopped into quarter pieces
• Broccoli chopped or yellow squash
• 1-2  peppers of your choice roughly chopped
• zest from 1 lemon
• ½ pound of protein based pasta (I used Barilla Angel Hair)
• 1-2 ladles of pasta water
• juice from 1 lemon
• ½ cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Chop vegetables, set aside.
2. Make Pasta according to directions, take out about 2-3 minutes before done. Pasta will finish cooking with the veggies.
3. While pasta is cooking, cook the veggies. 
4. In a large skillet on low/medium heat, heat olive oil. Add garlic, salt and pepper, make sure to stir. You don’t want the garlic to burn. 
5. Add the chopped up veggies. Cook veggies until almost done.
6. Add lemon zest and stir.
7. Add 1 ladle of pasta water and cooked pasta to the skillet. Stir for 1-2 minutes.
8. Add juice from 1 lemon and stir.
9. Sprinkle grated parmesan cheese on top and stir. This will help to make a thicker sauce, stir for one minute.
10. Serve and sprinkle additional cheese if desired.

Tips & Recommendations

If your veggies are cooking faster than the pasta, turn the heat down to low. When making pasta dishes it is always good to add pasta water to the dish. You can use whatever vegetables you want. You can use whatever kind of pasta you want, I have used it with angel hair and penne.

Hey there!!

I’m Billie, a recipe creator, food photographer, a girl that just loves to be in the kitchen and a travel lover.

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