Easy Summer Garden Pasta is the perfect late summer, weeknight dinner. It’s fresh, bright, savory and filling without being heavy.
This Easy Summer Garden Pasta recipe features a vinaigrette style pasta sauce with fresh tarragon and chives over spaghetti with veggies and bacon…. and bacon makes everything yummy, right?
You might think that here at vintagekitty.com we make fancy dinners every night, but the truth is that evening hours are a commodity. There’s always more to do than the meager hours provide, so dinner has to be fast and use the ingredients in the fridge and garden. And pasta can be the perfect medium to throw a bunch of ingredients together into a meal.
So, that is the story of how this recipe was created. What did we have on hand? Copious amounts of summer squash, peas, and tons of fresh herbs in the garden. And we ALWAYS have bacon, Parmesan, and lemons in the fridge… But the good news is you don’t need an extensive garden to make this pasta dish. I’m sad to say that squash bugs took out our zucchini, the peas are out of season until fall and the tarragon is waning in the dry, summer heat.
Luckily, there are frozen vegetables, farm stands and grocery stores! But the beauty of this recipe is that you can use whatever herbs and vegetables you have on hand… tomatoes, garden beans, parsley, basil, oregano, peppers, they are all great substitutions and will make a tasty pasta dish.
Because here is the magic equation: fat + acid + seasonings = flavor!!! So you should feel free to play with your food. Try different combinations of oils and herbs and see what works and more importantly, what you like! So what if it doesn’t turn out perfectly, you learn from your mistakes.
And we make lots of kitchen blunders! So much so that we have a saying in our house that is so un-food-bloggy, “Sometimes dinner is just dinner,” which means that we are eating because we have to nourish our bodies with the food we have already made and paid for!!! The reality is that sometimes it’s just about getting dinner on the table and using what you have on hand, not whether it’s yummy, or what you were craving….
But then sometimes you come up with a winner like this dish that is tasty on the first try and becomes a standard. We hope that you like it as much as we do and that it makes at least one of your busy weeknights a little easier.
Quick Summer Garden Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 pound spaghetti
- 4 slices thick cut bacon cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- Juice of one lemon
- Zest of one lemon
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 teaspoon fresh tarragon chopped
- 2 teaspoon fresh chives chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 red onion diced
- 1 large zucchini diced
- ½ cup fresh or frozen peas
- 1 cup Parmesan shredded
- Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook spaghetti according to package instructions.
- Place large skillet on medium-low heat and fry bacon.
- Meanwhile, while bacon is cooking, combine lemon juice, zest, oil, chives, and tarragon and set aside.
- Once bacon is crispy, transfer bacon with a slotted spoon to a plate covered with a paper towel.
- Add garlic to bacon fat and cook for one minute.
- Add zucchini and red onions and cook until tender but still crisp.
- Add in peas and cook another 1-2 minutes.
- Turn off heat and add pasta, bacon, lemon-herb mixture and Parmesan.
- Toss to combine and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Nutrition
If you give this recipe a try, tell us what you think by leaving a comment below or tagging us in your favorite social media forum! We love to hear your thoughts! And thanks in advance for sharing this post with your friends ;-) …every share helps a little blogging Kitty make a living!
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Thalia @ butter and brioche says
Not only is this pasta perfect for Summer but I think its just perfect for the Spring here in Australia too. Divine!
vintagekitty says
Yes, fresh peas are so good! And of course, spring onions!
Cateraar Pijnacker says
Need to make these immediately! My mouth is watering!
vintagekitty says
Let me know what you think. Thanks for stopping by!