Warm Pasta Salad

Quick cauliflower gnocchi pasta that you can make in just 10 minutes and take it to picnics or outdoor parties. It’s an easy warm pasta salad.

This post is sponsored by the Plant-Based promotion at Publix. The
opinions and text are all mine.

When the weather is warm, I can’t wait to get outside! The call of the warm sun is always answered!

So, why spend hours making food that you want to take to picnics? Instead, make a warm pasta salad in just 10 minutes!

Then, run out to the summoning sun to enjoy a big bowl of this gnocchi pasta.

Tips for making it

• To minimize the cook time, start the water boiling process first. While it’s getting to the boiling point, collect all the ingredients.
• The amount of Ripple Dairy Free Milk you use will vary with the thickness of the tahini. If your tahini is thicker than what I used, you may need to add more milk until your sauce is pourable.
• You can make the sauce ahead of time, but pour it on the veggies and gnocchi at the moment you are ready to serve. Why? Because you and I don’t want a soggy gnocchi pasta on a beautiful sunny day.
• This pasta refrigerates well, so, you can make it the night before. Just heat up for a couple minutes after you take it out from the refrigerator. Refrigerate without putting the sauce on the pasta.
• If you have time, you can cook the Green Giant Simply Steam stove top. They will take longer to cook than microwaving them, but they do taste crispier.

Gnocchi or pasta?

Ever since I have discovered the cauliflower and spinach gnocchi, I can’t stop eating them. They taste just like potato gnocchi and I can cook them in the same way.

If you are not a gnocchi fan, you can always use regular pasta. I love tri-color rotini for this recipe. Even farfalle pasta will do a wonderful job of adding texture and flavor to this salad.

So, what kind of pasta will you use with this recipe?

Nuts, raisins and dried cranberries! Oh my!

This was a very surprising addition to the recipe and I like to say that it was delicious! It added a completely different texture, as well as, a natural sweetness.

Nuts add a nice texture to the recipe. If you don’t want to use raisins, it’s ok to skip them. I just like how they add flavors to this pasta.

Tahini – how I love thee!

You are not going to be surprised that I used tahini as the base of this sauce. I have used it to flavor orzo pasta, green beans and even made energy bites of it.

Tahini is so versatile and can be used in any recipe. Add any kind of flavor to it and it will take the recipe from blah to WOW!

This time, I flavored it with a spicy brown mustard and I couldn’t believe how great my pasta tasted. You will fall in love with the sauce too.

I made extra sauce in this recipe, so, feel free to save the rest for salads or other pasta recipes.

Warm Pasta Salad

Rini

Quick cauliflower gnocchi pasta that you can make in just 10 minutes and take it to picnics or outdoor parties.

5 from 4 votes

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Prep Time 4 minutes mins

Cook Time 6 minutes mins

Total Time 10 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine American, Italian

Servings 2 People

Calories 330 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

For the pasta

• 1 box Green Giant Simply Steam Baby Vegetables Medley 10 oz
• ¼ cup Second Nature California Medley raisins dried cranberries and nuts ** See note #1
• 1 Green Giant Cauliflower and Spinach Gnocchi
• ¼ cup Bell Pepper Strips I used the bottled version
• Water to cook the gnocchi
• Cilantro for garnish, optional

For the sauce

• 2 tbsp Goldthread Plant Based Tonic I used the Hawaiian Ginger Flavor
• ¼ cup Ripple Dairy Free Milk I used the unsweetened version
• ¼ cup tahini sauce
• 1 tsp spicy brown mustard
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp lemon pepper optional
• 1 tsp oregano

Instructions

 

• Start by boiling water in a 4-quart pot. I filled it up to about the ¾ mark.
• Set it on high heat and let it come to a boil
• While the water comes to a boil, microwave the Green Giant Baby Vegetable Medley. See Note #2
• In a mixing bowl, add all the ingredients for the sauce and whisk/blend them
• Once the water is boiling, add the Green Giant Cauliflower and Spinach gnocchi. See Note #3
• After 2 minutes, you will see the gnocchi come to the surface
• Using a strainer, remove the gnocchi and place it in a bowl
• The veggies should be done by now, so, remove from the microwave and set it aside until it is cool to touch.
• Open the pouch according to the instructions and gently transfer the contents to the gnocchi bowl.
• Add bell pepper strips and California medley nuts to the gnocchi bowl.
• Finally, add about 1/2 of the tahini sauce. See Notes #4
• Serve the pasta immediately.

Notes

** Nutrion info is approximate

Notes:

1. I picked out the dried cranberries and raisins from the medley.  But, you can use all the nuts in this medley.
2. I microwaved it for 6 minutes, but your time will vary based on your microwave. They have a handy chart on the side of the box.
3. Add Gnocchi gently into the hot water so that the water doesn’t splash back and scald you.
4. I only used ½ a cup of the tahini sauce to the gnocchi bowl. Refrigerate the remaining tahini for future use.

TIPS

• To minimize the cook time, start the water boiling process first. While it’s getting to the boiling point, collect all the ingredients.
• The amount of Ripple Dairy Free Milk you use will vary with the thickness of the tahini. If your tahini is thicker than what I used, you may need to add more milk until your sauce is pourable.
• You can make the sauce ahead of time, but pour it on the veggies and gnocchi at the moment you are ready to serve. Why? Because you and I don’t want a soggy gnocchi pasta on a beautiful sunny day.
• This pasta refrigerates well, so, you can make it the night before. Just heat up for a couple minutes after you take it out from the refrigerator. Refrigerate without putting the sauce on the pasta.
• If you have time, you can cook the Green Giant Simply Steam stove top. They will take longer to cook than microwaving them, but they do taste crispier.

Nutrition

Calories: 330kcal

Keyword Picnic food, vegan pasta recipes, warm pasta salad

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