Late-Summer Vegetable Pasta

Despite the fact that these last days have felt more like fall than summer (especially yesterday with the blustery wind and leaves beginning to fall), the farmers market still has some very summery produce–peppers, tomatoes, berries, etc. And we still have zucchini, fresh basil, and cherry tomatoes coming in the garden. So I decided to take advantage of this waning summer produce to make a fresh (but warming) pasta dish. You can use any kind of vegetables for this; these are just what I had on hand. Also, you can certainly use regular pasta, but I like to use brown rice pasta since it’s a bit healthier.

The Recipe

Serves 2

2 portions brown rice pasta

1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

2 cups chopped kale

1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

1 cup crimini mushrooms, sliced

1/2 cup zucchini

5 large leaves fresh basil

2 Tbls capers

salt & pepper to taste

pinch red chili powder

olive oil

Begin by boiling a pot of water for the pasta. Cook the brown rice pasta to ‘al dente’ according to the instructions on the package. Important: brown rice pasta is VERY gummy and unappetizing if you don’t rinse it after it cooks. Rinse the brown rice pasta and drain any excess water off. Once you’ve done this, it tastes just like regular pasta in my opinion. Set aside. While the pasta is cooking, chop all vegetables:

Heat a splash of olive oil in a large pan on medium heat. Add onions first. Cook till slightly soft. Stir. Add peppers and stir:

Add some ground black pepper and a pinch of red chili powder. If you’re going to use capers, wait on adding the salt. Capers are very salty and I often will omit any extra salt when using them. Add the zucchini and stir:

Add the chopped kale and capers and stir:

Add the sliced mushrooms and basil:

Add the tomatoes. These really just need to warm up and not really cook:

Add the rinsed/drained pasta and stir in to warm up the noodles:

Taste it and adjust salt and pepper to taste. Serve it up and enjoy! How are you celebrating the end-of-summer foods just before we fully commit to heading into fall?