Farm Market Roasted Vegetable Pasta Salad

If you love bringing home a basket full of beautiful summer produce from the farmers market, this farmers market pasta salad is the perfect way to use it. Colorful roasted veggies—summer squash, peppers, tomatoes, green beans and red onion—are tossed with pasta, feta, olives and fresh herbs, then finished with a bright homemade dressing made with lemon juice, extra-virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a touch of honey. Unlike a traditional pasta salad, the vegetables are roasted first, which brings out their natural sweetness and adds so much flavor. Serve this summer vegetable pasta salad as a side dish at summer cookouts, alongside grilled chicken or burgers, or enjoy a big bowl for an easy meatless meal.

Why you’ll love this Pasta Salad

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.

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 conscious.

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.

Gather these ingredients

How to make Farm Market Pasta Salad

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.

Spread them out in a single layer on baking sheets and bake in a preheated 425 degree oen for 20-30 minutes.

Cook pasta according to package directions in a large pot of salted water until al dente.

Once roasted vegetables and cooked pasta have cooled mix them together in a large bowl.

Add dressing ingredients to a small mixing bowl and whisk together. Pour over pasta and roasted vegetables. Mix to combine, then add fresh herbs. Keep in an airtight container the the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Then 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.

This roasted vegetable pasta salad is one of those recipes I come back to whenever the farmers market is overflowing with seasonal produce. There really isn’t a strict rule about which vegetables you use—swap in what looks good and make it your own. The salad keeps well in an airtight container in the refrigerator, making it a great make-ahead cold pasta salad for summer cookouts, picnics and easy lunches. Just bring it out, give it a good stir, and let all those roasted vegetables, fresh herbs and bright lemon dressing remind you just how good summer produce can be. Will you visit your farmers market this weekend?  What can’t you resist?

From my table to yours with love, Sheila