A Summer Pasta For One

Who doesn’t like an easy to make pasta that uses seasonal produce? I always feel that summer is one of the best times of the year to make pasta. It’s so easy to make a delicious tasting pasta with basically whatever ingredients are sitting in your fridge and a few basic staples.

I am back in Canada at the moment, but in reality the summer produce I used to make this pasta is virtually the same summer produce you would find in Cyprus. My cousin is visiting and we have been indulging in some big home cooked meals. So my plans to diet and exercise are happily being shoved until “tomorrow”.

But recently my cousin and her boyfriend went to Seattle for a few days and this made the house feel a bit empty. It also left us without any reason to cook any large meals. So when I found myself alone today for lunch, I decided to make a quick pasta with whatever fresh farmers’ market produce we had.

It’s a really tasty recipe that gains a lot of salty flavour from the anchovies, onions, olives and capers, which I love. I always love my vegetables slightly on the undercooked side and I also feel that this helps retain more of the nutrients and flavours than frying them to death. So I’d like to think of the sauce as healthy too.

Speaking of pasta, I am really excited this week as,  if you are in Cyprus, from tomorrow onwards you will be able to pick up free tortellini recipe booklets in Carrefour and other select supermarkets containing 4 recipes created and photographed by Afrodite’s Kitchen and 2 recipes created by Mitsides and photographed by Afrodite’s Kitchen.

I have to say that inside this booklet you will find a recipe for a hazelnut-coriander pesto and it’s basically my new go-to pesto. It’s such a fresh and delicious pesto recipe and ridiculously easy to make – particularly as in Cyprus you always buy herbs in such large bunches and often have leftover coriander (well at least I do). I have included some pictures of the pastas throughout this post to give you a flavour of the recipe booklets. You will definitely be able to find them in Carrefour tomorrow, and keep an eye out in other grocery stores as well. Other than that, my cousin is returning tomorrow and I may be back next week, but possibly in a couple weeks with a new recipe after a much needed August summer break! Also, PS. if you haven’t signed up for the August newsletter, you can read it here, and sign up for it through the link on the left – I’ve mentioned a couple things that might be of interest about Cyprus cooking that I haven’t had a chance yet to mention in any of the blog posts. Enjoy!