When the mercury is rising, you want to eat light, healthy and cooling foods. How many times a week can you eat salad? Here is a recipe for a summery pasta entree that incorporates a lot of fresh vegetables. Gazpacho is traditionally a cold tomato soup but I have made it a little thicker so it can be used as a sauce. I recommend using shells pasta (use whole wheat option if you like) so that it catches some of that delicious sauce in every spoonful. The best part about this recipe is that there’s no cooking required and it takes only minutes to prepare!

Shells with Gazpacho Sauce

(Serves 4)

  • Ingredients:
  • ½ cup chopped red onion
  • 2 cloves garlic

    Photo by dreams time.com

  • 1 jalapeno, chopped
  • ½ large red bell pepper
  • 1 cucumber
  • 1 lb. plum tomatoes
  • ¼ sp. cumin powder
  • ¼ sp. wine vinegar
  • ¼ cup breadcrumbs
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • 2 sp. dried dill
  • 1 avocado
  • ¾ lb whole wheat pasta shells
  • salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

Boil the pasta as directed. Take the seeds out of the bell pepper, tomatoes and cucumber. Chop them into small pieces. In a blender combine all the ingredients from onion to breadcrumbs. Chop in the machine for 1 minutes, then add oil and dried dill. Pulse once more. Then add salt and pepper.

In a bowl, combine the drained and cooked pasta with the sauce. Add diced avocado. To make the sauce spicier, add a pinch of cayenne pepper.