Pesto Pasta Salad using Pulse Pasta

Summer weather is FINALLY here, and that means outdoor entertaining, BBQ’s and catch ups with family and friends.

I’ve recently been given a gold mine recipe which is now my goto for this sunny season- Pesto Pasta Salad. The perfect addition for those barbies and casual dinners.

I’ve chosen to use San Remo’s Pulse Pasta in this recipe, but it can easily be interchanged for normal pasta. Pulse pasta still tastes like the real deal, but is packed full of protein and is made with things like beans, lentils and chick peas. So good.

Ingredients

• 1 box of Pulse Pasta- Peas, Lentils Chickpeas, Borlotti beans
• 1 small tub of pitted kalamata olives
• 1 small tub of semi sundried tomatoes
• 2 capsicums
• 1 jar of basil pesto
• 1/2 cup of pine nuts
• Few decent splashes of olive oil

Method

1. Cook the pasta according to the packet directions.
2. Once cooked and drained, add warm pasta to a large bowl. Add the jar of pesto and stir through gently making sure the pasta is generously covered. Make sure you stir through when it’s warm as it distributes better.
3. Slice capsicums into wide strips (I usually do approx 5 strips per capsicum). Cook capsicums on a griddle pan lightly sprayed with olive oil. Cook until softened and charred. You can also do this on a normal frypan.
4. Once the capsicums have cooled slightly, cut into small pieces and add to pasta bowl.
5. Cut olives and sundried tomatoes roughly and add to bowl. Add pine nuts to bowl.
6. Stir it all together. Add a few generous lashings of olive oil if needed.
7. Enjoy!

Note: You can also add chopped baby spinach or feta to this salad- it tastes delicious. I use danish feta as its nice and creamy!