Green Beans Pasta Salad

The theme for this week is one vegetable cooked in 3 different ways. When I initially picked this theme, I had ridge gourd in mind and had picked three different dishes. Then I changed the vegetable and this month since we are posting on the weekends, I thought of doing one post for both BM and CCC. Keeping these in mind, I completely forgot I had to cook the vegetable in 3 different ways and not all dry curries. After posting yesterday’s recipe, I realized I posted two dry curries in a row and also have another dry curry lined up for today.

As soon as I realized this, I immediately surfed the net for some green beans recipe ideas. I was not planning on preparing lunch yesterday, as I had some leftovers. Since I was going to cook for the blog anyway, I wanted a wholesome recipe that can be served as is, and pasta salad sounded like a good option. The post I had planned for today, which is also a CCC post has to wait for another weekend!!

Green beans penne pasta salad is a quick, simple and wholesome salad. It has veggies, carbohydrates and protein; green beans, penne and chickpeas respectively. I used a lime juice dressing which went well with this salad.

Adapted From: here
Cooking Time: 20 - 25 minutes (Includes time to bring water to boil)
Serves: 1

Ingredients:

½ cup Penne Pasta (approximately 1 ½ - 2 oz)
12 Green Beans, edges trimmed and cut into 2” pieces (approximately ½ cup)
½ cup Chickpeas or Red Kidney Beans
1 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tbsp. Lime Juice
¼ tsp. Sea Salt (adjust to taste. Can use regular salt.)
⅛ tsp. Black Pepper Powder (adjust to taste)
⅛ tsp. Red Chili Flakes (adjust to taste)
1-2 tbsp. Parsley, chopped
1 tbsp. Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese, shredded

Preparation:

Bring 2-3 cups of water to boil. Add pinch of salt, penne and cook until penne is al dente. I cooked for 12 minutes or follow the instructions on the back of the box.
2-3 minutes before the pasta is al dente, add beans. I added beans 3 minutes before the pasta was al dente and the beans was slightly soft. I like crunchy beans and cooking beans for 2 minutes would have been perfect.
Once penne and beans are al dente, drain and run under cold water.
In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, lime juice, pepper powder, chili flakes and salt.
In a wide serving bowl, take cooked pasta and green beans, chickpeas, parsley and mix.
Pour the dressing over the salad and toss.
Sprinkle shredded cheese and serve.

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2012 - Melon Salad
2013 - Low Fat Blueberry & Vanilla Ice Cream
2014 - Peanut Spread and a Sandwich