Whole Wheat Pasta Salad

Posted by

Başak

October 11, 2024

On January 9, 2020

Preparation: 7 mins

Cooking: 10 mins

Difficulty: easy

Yields: 2 portions

Cost: low

If you want to go straight to the recipe click here

Whole wheat pasta salad health benefits

Among the most popular options offered by Italian gastronomy for summer meals on the beach or in the office, we have the pasta salad, like this easy whole wheat pasta salad: there are no limits to your imagination and creativity. I would gladly nominate it as a heritage of humanity! Not only because it is practically impossible to get a wrong result, but apart from its refreshing character, the whole wheat pasta salad offers us also a very appreciable advantage for those who want to keep fit. Thanks to its high fiber content, complex carbohydrates such as those found in wholemeal pasta are not quickly absorbed by the body. Their digestion occurs in more prolonged times, avoiding the harmful peaks of glycemia, and consequent increases of insulin. But there is more: like all complex carbohydrates containing starch, the more time the pasta stays in the fridge, the more its starch will be retrograded. This in turn will significantly increase the percentage of resistant starch present in your pasta(*).
Knowing this small but important detail, can open new horizons: resistant starch (RS Resistant Starch, this is its scientific name), is digested by the human body even less than starch. In other words, we will feel more satiated, and we will be less inclined to look for more food, avoiding further intake of calories. It also has prebiotic effects on the bacterial flora of the intestinal tract. We can apply this trick every time (read this recipe for a low GI potato salad), to all the carbohydrates we want, turning them from hypothetical dangers for glycemic peaks to allies of the pancreas. Like this easy vegan whole wheat pasta salad.

For tomorrow’s lunch I propose you this chromatically very attractive whole wheat pasta salad.

Ingredients for a delectable whole wheat pasta salad

2 zucchini cut into thin slices
2 ripe tomatoes
1 clove of garlic
1 tablespoon of extravirgin olive oil
170 grams of wholemeal pasta (70 grams for me, 100 grams for Giampaolo)
some sprigs of dill (it is not essential), but it matches very well with zucchini
a dozen of green olives

Additional tip

In the hot summer days you can prepare your whole wheat pasta salad well in advance, for example early in the morning or even the evening before, so that the proximity to the stove will not be a major pain. You should then keep the food in the fridge to obtain more Resistant Starch

Directions for an easy whole wheat pasta salad

Step 1. Take a non-stick frying pan, turn the stove on low heat and add the oil and garlic clove; as soon as you smell the garlic, add the sliced zucchini.

Step 2. In the meantime, boil the water for the pasta.

Step 3. Cook the zucchini, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. Cut tomatoes in cubes, and 2 minutes before turning off the stove add them to the zucchini.

Step 4. When the water boils, add a little coarse salt and pour the pasta. Cook it al dente, drain it and add the mix of veggies, except the dill and olives.

Step 5. Place it in a big salad bowl (or other container of your choice), and let it cool to room temperature. Later, put the whole wheat pasta salad in the fridge, after closing the container with a lid properly.

When you eat this fresh vegan whole wheat pasta salad, after having garnished it with dill and enriched with green olives, you will surely thank me.

Smart combos

If I lived alone I would eat pasta once a week; but for a happy and long-lasting marriage with an Italian, sometimes I have to make small compromises; it means that I have to eat pasta, not one but 3 days a week… I underline, sometimes. In these cases I never use condiments based on animal proteins and fats, instead I try to use little oil (at least for my dish) but a lot of dietary fiber. The combination of zucchini, cherry tomatoes and olives of this recipe, help me to win my challenge very well. Increasing the amount of cooked or raw vegetables is optional, but for an excellent and satiating vegan whole wheat pasta salad, I suggest you, do not hesitate, to do so.
Enjoy your meal and have a good revolution, to all

Bibliography
(*): Goni I. et al., (1996), Analysis of resistant starch: A method for foods and food products. Food Chemistry, 56 (4) , pp. 445-449.