Light Pasta Recipes

A lot of people would consider it comforting to dig a fork into a bowl of spaghetti covered in hot marinara or cream sauce. I wouldn’t argue! Still, those steamy, filling dishes seem so—winter. In the summer, when produce is so sweet and we’re energized by light, healthy foods, I rather dig my fork and swirl it around, and pick up something…that’s just like these.

Grilled Vegetable Linguine

If you are grilling your vegetables indoors:

• Grill Pan or Non-Stick Skillet: grill the green and yellow beans in a preheated grill pan or regular non-stick skillet for 6 minutes, and the cherry tomatoes for 3 minutes, turning over both with tongs halfway through.
• George Foreman Grill: green and yellow beans need 8 to 9 minutes; cherry tomatoes need 3 minutes.

Enjoy this gorgeous Linguini Grilled Summer Vegetable Salad.   The combination of perfectly seasoned linguini with grilled summer vegetables is outstanding. This warm side dish is great for a summer barbecue, or just about any time. Even the kids love it. If you can’t find yellow wax beans, just use a full pound of green beans. The green and red colors are fabulous together. If you are making the linguini in advance, simply place it in a colander before serving, and pour plenty of boiling water over it. This will refresh the pasta and heat it through.

Try the all vegetable zucchini “spaghetti” for a deliciously light summer salad. If you can’t find miniature onions, use shallots instead, but then decrease the garlic to just half of a very small clove.

Note: I find the quality of the OXO julienne peeler to far surpass that of other julienne peelers.  But be extra careful when handling them as they are quite sharp.

As seen in Joy of Kosher with Jamie Geller (Summer 2012) – Subscribe Now.