• Home
  • About
  • Contact
Eat 2 Gather

Eat 2 Gather

  • Food
    • recipes
    • What’s 4 dinner
    • Meals 4 Sharing
    • Pie of the Month
    • Kitchen Tips
    • Restaurant Reviews
  • Family
    • confessions
    • travel
    • adoption
  • Fellowship
    • Giveaways
    • Entertaining
    • Book Club
    • Blogs I Read
    • Photography

September 27, 2013 ·

Farm Market Pasta Salad

Food· Kitchen Tips· Lunch· recipes· salads· sides

  • Share
  • Tweet

This salad is the perfect salad for celebrating the best of the harvest.  It uses vegetables fresh from the farmers market, roasted  and tossed with orecchietta pasta and basil drizzled with a fresh lemon balsamic vinaigrette.  This pasta salad is versatile and pairs well with any meal, or it can be a meal all on its own!

IMG_9592

If you live in the midwest you’ll know what I mean when I say “ya gotta get while the gettin’s good”, and right now the gettin’ is good at the farmers market, but in another week or so it’s going to winding down really fast.  I get this panicked feeling this time of year,  like this is going to be my last good tomato for eight whole months!! So I buy a whole bushel and make myself sick on them!  Or I’m never going to have another peach again!!  Insert high pitched scream. The basil is nearly done…full on panic mode…beans, beans, need to get more beans.  If you happen to run into me at the farmers market I might look like a crazed vegetable addict.  My market basket full to the brim, my kids dragging behind me carrying melons, and pumpkins, and bags and bags of apples in every variety.  I’m a vegi/fruit hoarder.

 

DSCN4030

I confess.

I have absolutely no control over my spending at the farmers market.  Oh and it’s so hard for me to pass a farmer by…unless they are selling avocados and bananas.  Because you see there is nary a farm in Michigan that grows avocados and bananas, this is not local stuff, they think they’re fooling people but they are not fooling this chick.

I was not born yesterday…or the day before for that matter.  I can pass them by with a clear conscience.

So the moral of this story is that I often come home with more than enough, and I have to get creative with how I use it all so nothing goes to waste.  That’s what I love about this salad!  You can use any and all vegetables, the odds and ends from your vegetable drawer, it all works in this salad.

 

IMG_9586

Feel free to make it your own.  Just remember that when you roast the vegetables they shrink down.  Start with about 8 cups or more of fresh vegetables cut into inch sized chunks.

 

 

IMG_9584

This sounds like a lot, but once you cut up a couple of peppers, and a zucchini, summer squash, onion and so on before you know it you’ll have a bowl full of vegetables to roast.  You can use more vegetables if you want don’t let me hold you back!

 

IMG_9596

 

[print_this]

I love the versatility of this salad. You can roast any vegetables you like for this salad. If you decide to change up the vegetables just remember you want to end up with about 3-4 cups of vegetables after roasting. Broccoli works well as does corn, or asparagus. Don’t like olives leave them out. The sky is the limit with this salad.

Farm Market Pasta Salad

1 pound Orecchiette Pasta
1 Orange Pepper, seeded and cut into medium chunks
1 Red Bell Pepper, seeded and cut into medium chunks
2 small Summer Squash, cut in half and sliced into 1/2 inch slices
1 Medium Red Onion, cut into bite sized chunks
2 cups Cherry Tomatoes
2 cups Green Beans, snipped and cut into 1 inch pieces
1/4 cup Olive Oil
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Pepper
1 cup Feta Cheese
1/2 cup Olives, minced
1/4 cup fresh Basil, roughly chopped

Dressing
1/3 cup Olive Oil
juice of 1 Lemon
1 clove of Garlic, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Pepper, more if you prefer
1 heaping teaspoon Dijon Mustard
1 tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar
1 tablespoon Honey

1. Boil Orecchietta pasta until its al dente, drain and allow to cool.
2. Cut up all your vegetables into medium to small chunks, place in a bowl and toss with 1/4 cup olive oil and salt and pepper. Spread vegetables on baking sheets, making sure that they are not crowded. Roast in a 425 degree oven for 30 minutes. Remove and allow to cool.
3. When pasta and roasted vegetables are cool you can mix them together in a large bowl with feta cheese, and olives.
4. Whisk together the for the dressing. Drizzle over pasta salad and stir to coat. When dressing has been incorporated into the salad sprinkle the basil over the top give salad another quick stir and you are good to go!

Enjoy!

 

[/print_this]

 

DSCN4032Then there is the situation with the sunflowers and every other flower farmer at the market…I want one of each and all 5 buckets of sunflowers please.  I love flowers, fresh bright flowers.  Kenny are you reading this?  hint hint.

Will you visit your farmers market this weekend?  What can’t you resist?

Much Luv! Sheila

 

Previous Post: « Best Meat Ever!
Next Post: Slow Cooker Chicken Lettuce Wraps »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Carrie says

    September 27, 2013 at 8:38 am

    Yum yum yum!! Was just at the Farmers Market yesterday. The mums — oh the mums!! All the brilliant fall colors were amazing. I love the mums like you love the sunflowers. It may also be because my daughter calls them “mommas.” 🙂

  2. kelley {mountain mama cooks} says

    September 27, 2013 at 9:02 am

    I do the same thing!! I bought 20 lb of tomatoes on Wednesday and even though had a busy week, somehow managed to put up 8 quarts of sauce. We got snow yesterday so my guess is our market is going to be pretty bare next week 🙁

  3. Karin Nelson says

    September 27, 2013 at 12:43 pm

    Sheila, I’m looking forward to trying your Lemon Balsamic dressing. I don’t have a recipe quite like that. Mmmmm.

  4. Kim | Just for Clicks says

    September 27, 2013 at 2:29 pm

    I just bought sunflowers and veggies last week at the farmer’s market and told Tim we’ve gotta go this week….. several stands told us things would quickly be winding down now. AGGGHHHH!!!! I love the seasons but I so miss the produce in the cold months. PS ~ Your pasta salad looks divine ma’am. 🙂

    • Sheila says

      September 28, 2013 at 1:09 pm

      Thanks so much! I’m hoping to make one last good haul from the farmers market this week….might me slim pickens tho! ; )

  5. Laurie {Simply Scratch} says

    September 29, 2013 at 11:04 pm

    I love this salad Sheila! All those roasted veggies tossed together… *siiigh*!! So pretty and colorful!

  6. Lauren @ Climbing Grier Mountain says

    September 30, 2013 at 12:14 pm

    I don’t want the Farmer’s Market season to end either!! But until then, I want to eat buckets of this pasta salad!! Gorgeous!

  7. Kristen Vanlaecke says

    October 1, 2013 at 3:07 pm

    Okay, I’m sold! I will be making this salad for my sister and her family this weekend!!!

    • Sheila says

      October 1, 2013 at 3:56 pm

      Oh yeh! score super healthy ; ) you could even use whole wheat pasta!

  8. Lisa Crannell says

    August 21, 2014 at 8:10 pm

    I made your Farm Market Pasta Salad for dinner tonight and it was possibly the best thing that we have ever had! Thanks so much for sharing it….

    • Sheila says

      August 22, 2014 at 8:35 am

      You are very welcome! My husbands office loves it when I make this salad for them, it’s gone in minutes. Thanks for stopping by! XO Sheila

  9. Lindsay says

    August 17, 2015 at 1:43 pm

    I just made this last night and have to say my favorite pasta salad! Thank you. I have been looking for recipes that celebrate the best of Farmer’s Market bounty and this nails it~ to keep gluten free I made with gluten free noodles and added chicken for protein- definitely using again. Thank you!

    • Sheila says

      August 18, 2015 at 2:22 pm

      I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for taking the time to stop by and let me know! I love the addition of chicken and that you were able to make it gluten free, so awesome! XO, Sheila

Primary Sidebar

My passion is sharing my family's favorite recipes, in hopes of bringing your family together around the table. I’m so glad you are here! read more...

Recipe Search

Browse by Category

~ Featured on ~

Foodista Food Blog of the Day Badge

Lets be friends on Goodreads!

Sheila's bookshelf: read

Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World
5 of 5 stars
Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World
by Bob Goff
The Art of Hearing Heartbeats
4 of 5 stars
The Art of Hearing Heartbeats
by Jan-Philipp Sendker
Same Kind of Different as Me
4 of 5 stars
Same Kind of Different as Me
by Ron Hall
The Alchemist
3 of 5 stars
The Alchemist
by Paulo Coelho
The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat
0 of 5 stars
The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat
by Edward Kelsey Moore

goodreads.com

Dare 2 Care

Free online sign up sheets by VolunteerSpot TakeThemAMeal.com

Footer

The pursuit of food, family, & fun.

Copyright © 2023 · beloved theme by Restored 316

0 shares