Easy Summer Pasta Bowl with String Beans, Peas & Lemon | v + gf

Back home from America, and it feels like I've been gone for months. So much has happened to me while I was away. The new scenery, traveling alone, putting myself outside of my comfort zone has made me grow tremendously! I have a ton of experiences and thoughts to process. Since I came home I've done nothing but writing, walking and sleeping at odd hours (jetlag still keeps me awake at night). There's so much I wanna tell you guys, and photos I wanna show you! I need a little more time to process (and edit) though. So today I wanna share the pasta recipe I promised you on instagram!Pasta is my ultimate comfort food. Tossed with all the random ingredients I crave at the time, sloppily served in a bowl with heaps of olive oil and savory, crunchy sprinkles. The summery lemon + harvest type of bowl is one of my absolute favorite. In my opinion you can never go wrong with lemon pasta!This recipe was born out of a visit to the farmer's market, picking up all things green I could find. I'm guessing my body was craving magnesium rich food at the time? Or perhaps is was the early summer bliss that made me intuitively reach for those green, tender veggies typical for that season. Now we are a little bit further along summer, but you can still find all these ingredients at the market.Back home I started prepping a huge pot of soft zucchini, crispy string bean and sweet pea pasta tossed with plenty of lemon and peppery arugula, for a handful of friends coming over later. Dinner was ready in under 20 minutes, and we placed the entire pot in the middle of the table and let everyone serve themselves. But eventually we all just stuck our forks straight into the pot :D Love those easy to share, one-pot meals!If you want to you can serve this pasta bowl with grated parmesan cheese. Personally I've been obsessed with nutritional yeast lately, and I sprinkle it on everything! Did you know that besides providing a nice (vegan) cheesy flavor, nutritional yeast also doubles as a great B-vitamin supplement for vegans? The yeast is inactive, so you don't have to worry about any weird and undesired chemical reactions to your food ;-)I'm keeping this brief, saving my reflections from America to an upcoming post! I'm also planning to write a letter to my email club on how it worked out for me taking a 5 week vacation and still keeping my blog and instagram alive and active! So if you're curious about that and you're not in the email club yet, you can sign up here! (it's free!)Until next time,Agnes

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Easy Summer Pasta Bowl with String Beans, Peas & Lemon

serves 4~350-400 g penne pasta (I used a gluten-free kind)1 large or 2 small shallots2 cloves garlic1 zucchini100 g string beans and/or wax beans1 cup (2,5 dl) frozen green peas, thawed1 organic lemon, zest + 2 tbsp juice1 tbsp white balsamic vinegarolive oildried chili flakes, to tasteflakey sea salt + pepper, to tasteserving suggestionsrocket saladtoasted sunflower seedsnutritional yeast sprinkle

Directions

Fill a large pot with water and bring to boiling. Salt the water generously. Once water is boiling, cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet. Let it be just a little "al dente", since we're gonna sauté it briefly with the veggies later.Meanwhile, mince garlic and finely chop shallots. Dice zucchini and cut the string beans in half. Thaw the green peas gently in the microwave.Heat up a good glug of olive oil in a skillet and gently cook the onions until translucent. Add zucchini and string beans and cook on medium heat until slightly browned and tender yet with a little bite. Add more olive oil if needed. Add green peas, garlic and sprinkle with salt, pepper & chili flakes. Let cook on medium low heat for about 3 minutes.Add the pasta to the skillet, along with lemon zest, lemon juice, white balsamic vinegar, a little extra olive oil, salt & pepper if needed and toss to combine. Quickly sauté on medium high heat for a minute or two. Turn off stove and add the rocket salad. Toss to combine.Serve immediately in bowls, topped with toasted sunflower seeds and a sprinkle of nutritional yeast (or parmesan cheese if that's your thing). Enjoy!

Looking for more pasta inspiration? Here are some of my favorite recipes!

Creamy Saffron & Lemon Pasta with Asparagus, Halloumi & Slivered AlmondsLinguine with Cashew Alfredo Sauce & Carrot Chorizo | v + gfSpaghetti with Marinated Tempeh, Broccoli & Creamy Lemon Chili Sauce | v + gfPs. If you like this post it would mean a lot to me if you wanted to leave a comment or hit the hearth button. That way I know what content you love and wanna see more of :-)All photographs, recipes and content are Cashew Kitchen originals, unless otherwise indicated. Feel free to go wild on pinning, but remember all content is copyright protected. Always link back here and credit Cashew Kitchen when sharing. Thanks!