Pasta Salad with Roasted Summer Veg, White Beans, Arugula & Balsamic Dressing

This pasta salad is simple, delicious, and perhaps Italian inspired. Oven & pan roasted veg give a ton of fresh delicious flavour to the salad. The amounts of veg and pasta are somewhat forgiving. One time I had 450 g of pasta, the next time I made it the bag was only 375g. It's ok to have slightly different ratios of things. I always taste at the end and adjust lemon or vinegar and olive oil if needed. 

​Fusili Pasta is tossed with

• roasted cherry tomatoes, corn, mushroom & zucchini
• white beans & arugula
• garlicky balsamic dressing
• fresh mint & basil

​I do the cherry tomatoes and corn in the oven and the mushrooms and zucchini in a pan just for the sake of simplicity and speed. 

Serving: 4-6 people as a main dish
                8 - 10 as a side dish

Ingredients:

• 375 g whole grain fusili pasta 
• veg or olive oil for roasted veg
• 600 - 700 g cherry tomatoes
• 400 grams button or crimini mushrooms (or any kind really!)
• 2 cups frozen corn
• 2-3 zucchini (I used 2 large zucchini, more if they are small)
• 1 x 19 oz can white cannellini beans, strained and rinsed
• handful each mint and basil, chopped (1/4 cup of each or more to taste)
• 1/2 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup good quality balsamic vinegar **
• 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 3 - 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• handful chopped green onion (or thinly sliced red onion) (1/4 - 1/2 cup)
• 2 tsp sambal oelek 
• juice 1 lemon
• 3 Tbsp red wine vinegar

** I wouldn't use a cheap balsamic vinegar. The bottle linked was about 13 dollars and the flavour is exponentially better. Slightly tart but has a smooth sweetness that cheap balsamic lacks. I never use 100% balsamic vinegar in my dressings either. I like to use a bit of lemon and or red wine vinegar to round out the acidity. So in that sense a bottle of good balsamic can go a long way and is probably worth spending a bit extra on. If not you might want to add some sweetness to the dressing. I like to add a drizzle of balsamic glaze as a garnish sometimes to the salad regardless. 

Method:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. (water should be well salted, and don't overcook the pasta, only al-dente will do here!) Cool and refrigerate while you prepare roasted vegetables.
2. Tomatoes: Toss whole cherry tomatoes in veg oil a bit of salt and pepper. Slow roast at 350F for about 50 minutes, giving them a toss here and there. They will be softened and a bit shriveled. When adding them to the pasta, I purposefully burst them. The juicy tomato bits get into the ridges of the fusili.
3. Corn: Toss frozen corn niblets with just a bit of veg oil, salt and pepper. Roast at 450F for about 10 minutes. Or toss around a cast iron pan for a few minutes with a splash of oil until heated through. 
4. Mushrooms: Heat a bit of veg oil in a cast iron pan, add quartered shrooms salt and pepper and sauté until golden brown.
5. Zucchini: Wipe out pan from cooking mushrooms. Cut Zucchini into thick 1/2 inch slices. Heat veg oil in a pan, and add zucchini. Brown on each side. Cool then cut into quarters. (I cook them in thick wedges like this as thinner slices tend to turn too soft quickly. I like them to keep their integrity  (still have a bit of bite to them).
6. Toss the cooked and cooled veg, and drained/rinsed can of  white beans with the pasta.
7. Whisk together olive oil, balsamic vinegar and Dijon. Fold into the pasta.
8. Season with lots of salt and pepper to taste.  
9. Fold in chopped garlic, green onion, basil, mint & sambal oelek. 
10. Add fresh lemon juice and red wine vinegar (I kind of did this part to taste. The veg oil that is used for roasting the veg requires a bit of extra acidity to balance everything out. The finished pasta salad should taste balanced, but bright and fresh. 
11. Let marinate in the fridge for a few hours.
12. I fold in just a bit of arugula just before serving. Think of it more as a garnish, you don't need a lot. (I wouldn't add it to any pasta salad you weren't planning to eat fairly soon as I think it would wilt and not look fresh and bright)

I garnished my salad with a few extra fresh sliced cherry tomatoes, some more fresh herbs and I also added Borage flowers that I have growing at home. I just plucked the petals and sprinkled a few on top.  (Edible flowers are my fav. For this I added them just for the visual more than the flavour...they weren't noticeable taste wise)