We have been enjoying really lovely hot and summery days in London recently, and on warmer days, pasta salads are often go-to meals for me. While British asparagus are still in season, I wanted to incorporate these in some recipes last week, and together with delicious homemade basil pesto and some intensely flavoured sun-dried tomatoes, they made the perfect ingredients for my latest pasta salad recipe.

This pesto pasta salad with asparagus and sun-dried tomato recipe is based on a very simple and traditional homemade pesto with pine nuts, parmesan cheese, garlic, fresh basil and extra-virgin olive oil, and you can experiment with this recipe endlessly. It’s also a perfect way to use leftover ingredients and incorporate some healthy vegetables.

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Pesto Pasta Salad with Asparagus and Sun-Dried Tomato Recipe


  • Author: Michiel Steur
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 4 1x

Description

This pasta salad with green asparagus, sun-dried tomatoes and fresh homemade basil pesto is the ultimate go-to summer recipe.


Scale

Ingredients

For the pasta salad:

  • 300g conchiglie rigate pasta (or any other dried pasta of choice)
  • 110g green asparagus
  • 80g sun-dried tomatoes
  • 2 tablespoons pine nuts
  • Grated pecorino cheese, to garnish (optional)

For the basil pesto:

  • 25g fresh basil
  • 2 tablespoons pine nuts
  • 25g parmesan cheese
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Instructions

  1. Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, according to package instructions. Pasta salad is the one pasta recipe where you will want to make sure the pasta is cooked all the way through, as opposed to al dente, as the pasta will get firmer as it’s rinsed and cooled.
  2. Meanwhile, add all the ingredients for the pesto to a mini chopper or food processor, and blitz into a pesto.
  3. Slice the sun-dried tomatoes in strips. Chop green asparagus into smaller pieces, approximately 5cm each. Cook in a small pot of boiling water until tender, drain and rinse under cold water.
  4. Once cooked, drain pasta, rinse under cold water, return to the pot and stir in your homemade pesto. Add the sun-dried tomatoes, cooked asparagus and pine nuts and stir to combine.
  5. You can either serve the pasta straight away, while still slightly warm, or leave to cool completely. Garnish with some grated pecorino cheese.

Notes

Cook pasta all the way through, as the pasta will get firmer as it’s rinsed and cooled.

  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: Italian

Keywords: asparagus and tomato pasta salad, green asparagus pasta salad, basil pesto pasta salad with tomato, sun-dried tomato asparagus salad

Homemade basil pesto in electric mini chopper

Fresh British green asparagus on chopping board

Pesto pasta salad with green asparagus and sun-dried tomato recipe


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