Pasta salad with beans, veggies and herbs Credit: Hannah Palmer Egan

A few weeks ago, I threw this simple pasta salad together for a potluck. I’ve been craving it ever since — it’s a little sweet, nice and salty, and very light, as pasta salads go. It’s also vegan, and if you use gluten-free pasta and Bragg’s aminos, it’s also gluten-free, which means most everyone at the party can eat it.

Last time, I included chopped sugar-snap peas from LePage Farm, but those are mostly done for the season. This week, I substituted shredded summer squash (and cucumbers) from Pierson Farm’s stand in Bradford, since here we are again in the zucchini heart of summer, and it’s time to start adding squash to everything.  

Potluck Pasta Salad
Enough for a potluck! 

Ingredients: 

  • 1 pound dry rotini
  • 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 small Vidalia onion, diced
  • 1 large cucumber, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch pieces
  • 1 12-inch summer squash, washed and shredded
  • 1-2 teaspoons coarse sea salt
  • 2-3 tablespoons tamari or liquid aminos
  • 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon plum vinegar
  • Juice of half lemon
  • 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
  • 2/3 cup mixed fresh basil, mint and chives, loosely chopped

Preparation: 

  1. Cook pasta as directed on the package, then bathe in cold water until it cools completely. Drain and reserve.
  2. Place the black beans in a large, non-porous salad bowl. Cut the veggies to size and add each to the beans as you finish. 
  3. Sprinkle the bean/veggie mix with salt and tamari and let sit a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Then add the oils, acids and ginger and stir until all are well combined. Let the veggies marinate in the liquid for five to 10 minutes; some liquid will collect at the bottom of the bowl —  mix to redistribute it. 
  4. Add the chopped herbs, then the pasta and stir until everything is well combined. Let rest a few minutes, then stir again and serve.

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Hannah Palmer Egan was a Seven Days food writer from 2014-2019. She was a 2017 James Beard Journalism Award finalist for her coverage of Vermont's food and agriculture industries, and received food writing awards from the Association of Alternative Newsmedia....

3 replies on “Farmers Market Kitchen: Potluck Pasta Salad”

  1. I am a vinegar freak – every state I go to, I make a point to visit every grocery store possible, looking for unusual vinegars. I have never seen plum vinegar, so where are you supposed to buy it?

  2. MCVK, I love vinegars, too! But I swear by plum vinegar. It’s a bit salty and a little sweet … You can find it in the Asian section at many mainstream grocery stores — or at most Asian markets. City Market/Onion River Co-op stocks it in Burlington, but I bet similar markets elsewhere also do, too. In other news, have you tried the Blueberry vinegar from Adam’s Berry Farm? It’s lovely…As is the honey vinegar that Artesano Meadery now produces together with Cold Hollow Cider Mill.

  3. Thank you so much – I don’t make it to Burlington often, but next time I will look at City Market – it’s been a while since I’ve been there. And than you even more for the blueberry vinegar tip – I’ve been searching for blueberry vinegar for a couple of years. In return, here are a couple of my favorite vinegars: Cuisine Perel blood orange vinegar (also a little sweet, but not much, because blood oranges are bitter) and MarDona blood orange balsamic glaze. (I have no idea where I bought either, but both companies are easily found online.)
    Whole Foods sells an olive oil infused with blood oranges.

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