Here is our family’s favorite summer pasta dish! Fresh pasta salad with greens and mint lemon pesto is a perfect side dish for your summer barbecues or to bring along for a picnic, and I don’t even mention that it is a perfect summer lunch to take with you to the office. The pasta dish is very fresh thanks to the greens such as peas and rocket, but also thanks to the pesto bringing up mint and lemon flavors. I love this salad as it gives a better nutritious value and fiber to pasta so no guilt in eating it even if it is for dinner.
It is loaded with greens: green peas, sugar peas, rocket, and mint… I still remember that once, while eating this meal, Adeline said she loved green peas. I still remember that feeling I had once she said she actually loved “a piece of vegetable”! 😀 As a vegetarian mother who does not cook meat and finds therefore eating veggies and legumes as a foundation, this was really something, finally. Unfortunately, it did not last long, as the other day I made soup from green peas which was not that popular though.
The pesto is made of almonds which changes from the classical basilic pesto. For me, it gives the pasta such a freshness and pairs perfectly with peas, lemon and feta used in this recipe and gives such a summery feel to the dish! The pasta with greens and mint lemon pesto is also very simple to make, with ingredients easy to find in the grocery store or on the market or even your own garden, so get the groceries done, make it and enjoy!
If you enjoy these summer salad meals with mint, make sure to try also the Quinoa Salad with Feta, Orange and Mint!
Here is the recipe for pasta salad with greens and mint lemon pesto and if you make it, let me know how did it turn out – leave me a comment below the text or share a picture on social media. If you don’t plan to make it immediately save it on Pinterest for later use!
Ingredients
500 g pasta like penne or fussili
300 g green peas (frozen)
150 g sugar peas
50 g rocket
lemon peel from 1 non-treated lemon
100 g feta
Pesto:
100 g almonds
1 bundle of mint leafs
50 g grated pecorino or parmesan cheese
juice from 1 non-treated lemon
100 ml olive oil
1-3 tbsp. water
1 larger garlic clove
pinch of salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Roast almonds without oil on a pan and let them cool down. In the meantime, remove the mint leafs from the stems. Transfer the cooled almonds into the blender together with mint leafs, lemon juice, olive oil, parmesan and garlic and blend all together. If the pesto is too thick, add water accordingly. Season with salt and pepper.
Cook the pasta al dente in water wth added salt in large cooking pot as per the instructions on the package. 4 minutes before the end of cooking, add the green peas and after another 2 minutes, add the sugar peas.
Drain the pasta with peas in a colander, then rinse with running cold water and allow to drain again.
Transfer the pasta to a large serving bowl, add the pesto, and mix until combined well. Serve with rucola, crumbled feta and sprinkled with lemon peel.
