Avocado Pesto Pasta Salad with Roasted Summer Vegetables

Name: Avocado Pesto Pasta Salad with Roasted Summer Vegetables
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 1/2 avocado; 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese; 1 large garlic clove; 1/4 cup basil leaves (packed); 2 tbsp slivered almonds; 1 tbsp lemon juice; 1 tbsp olive oil; salt & pepper {to taste}; 1 cup cherry tomatoes; 15 stalks asparagus {half a bundle} (trimmed and cut into bite-sized pieces); 1/2 medium zucchini cut into bite-sized pieces {~1 cup}; 1 orange pepper cut into bite-sized pieces; 160 g {roughly 3 cups} uncooked bow-tie pasta

June 20, 2014 30 Comments

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Creamy, delicious avocado pesto dresses this roasted summer vegetable pasta salad. An easy weeknight meal, this comes together in 35 or so minutes!

Avocado pesto, where have you been all my life?

I mean really. I love pesto. I love avocado. Why have I never thought to put them together before?

I would like to eat this stuff straight off the spoon. And put it on my toast. And ice cream and coffee. It’s so addictively creamy…a little bit crunchy from the almonds…a little bit garlicky, cheesy, basily and lemony. And avocado-ey. {Yes. These really are words…in my brain.}

I guess now my life is complete. Me, Ben, Kai, and avocado pesto. We will make one big happy family together.

Can you believe that I used to think pesto was gross?

As a kid I was completely guilty of judging a book by its green, slimy color.

My parents would slather it all over their pizza, and put on their gourmet toppings…sundried tomatoes, banana peppers and capicola, while my brother and I, we would take ours with pepperoni, please. Hold the green stuff, and pile on lotsa cheese. Sometimes I would get my way and get a Hawaiian pizza. So boring.

These days, I am more mature and I know that green slimy stuff is the bizniz. {I can still claim to be mature while using the word bizniz, right?}

I guess you’re not supposed to just eat pesto straight out of the food processor, even if it’s avocado pesto. Apparently that does not constitute a nutritional meal. Sigh.

So I made this simple, easy pasta salad with roasted vegetables.

I used bowtie pasta, because they’re cute and fun, but use whatever type of pasta you’d like.

For the veggies, I used cherry tomatoes, asparagus, zucchini, and orange pepper. But feel free to sub in whatever you happen to have in the fridge…make it a clean-out-the-fridge salad! It doesn’t matter what you put in there, everything is better with avocado pesto. Is that not a saying? I’m going to make it a saying!

The veggies are tossed in olive oil and roasted until tender. While the veggies are roasting, cook up the pasta and whip up your pesto in the food processor. Toss everything in the pesto, and you’re set. In all, this will take less than 30 minutes to whip up.

You can serve it hot or cold. You can add meat and eat it as a full meal {as we have several times this week}. It is a totally versatile dish.

Now if you’ll excuse us, I will be riding off into the sunset with Ben, Kai, and the avocado pesto.

Have a great week-end!!

More avocado awesomeness

try these Sweet Potato Noodles with Black Beans and Creamy Avocado Sauce
or this Avocado Caesar Salad
or this Avocado Caprese Chicken Quesadilla Recipe

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