A Recipe for Tasty Pasta Salad (with courgettes)
This vegan pasta salad (Rainbow Plant Life) is a good way to use up courgettes (conventional pesto is not even vegetarian, it contains calf rennet). This pesto is made by caramelising chunked courgettes with garlic, salt and red pepper flakes. Top with sliced cherry tomatoes and chickpeas.
Avoid courgettes that are wrinkled or have yellow skin or black spots. Store in the fridge. Choose organic to avoid cross-pollinated seed batches that carry a toxin (Tim Dowling writes how he poisoned himself with homegrown courgettes).
Before cooking, read our post on food safety for people and pets. For tinned ingredients, pop lids inside cans (or pop ring-pulls back over holes) to avoid wildlife getting trapped).
It’s best to just bin allium scraps (leeks, onion, garlic, shallots, chives) as like tomato/citrus/rhubarb scraps, acids could harm compost creatures.
Why Make This Recipe?
It’s not just cheap and filling, but high in natural protein thanks to the chickpeas, so all the ingredients are easy to find.
Ingredients Needed?
Very simple affordable ones: onion, garlic, pasta, cherry tomatoes and tinned chickpeas.
Courgettes (called ‘zucchini’ in North America) are quite popular in England, especially for Mediterranean recipes like ratatouille. Related to squash, the smallest courgettes tend to be most tasty (if not harvested, they grow into marrows).
Which Pasta to Use?
Look in stores for Yorkshire Pasta Company or The Northern Pasta Co (both are made with British wheat, and sold in plastic-free packaging).
Serve with Grated Vegan Cheese
Conventional Parmesan is not vegetarian (it contains a cheese that by law, contains calf rennet). Instead, just grate good vegan cheese over the top.
Peaceful Politics in Action!
Making a plate of homemade pasta salad with fresh veggies and protein-high chickpeas is a peaceful political act! Every meal you make with natural plant-based ingredients and seasonal produce, is helping to create a country where nutritious food matters. Is affordable to everyone – and tastes good too!
