Wholemeal pasta salad with toasted chickpeas and pumpkin

Today I would like to tempt you with this simple but very delicious recipe for wholemeal pasta salad with slightly crunchy chickpeas, baked pumpkin and a tasty lemon sauce. The canned chickpeas are rinsed and dried then covered with a mix of spices, olive oil and honey. Once cooked they become slightly crunchy on the outside and with a soft inside with a fantastic spicy aftertaste. They are mixed with wholemeal pasta, pieces of baked pumpkin and baby spinach and they are enriched with a slightly sweet, sour and zesty sauce. An autumn pasta salad definitely worth trying.

Wholemeal pasta salad with toasted chickpeas and pumpkin

Wholemeal pasta salad with toasted spicy chickpeas, oven baked pumpkin and tasty lemon sauce.

Course first course

Cuisine lactose free, vegetarian

Keyword chickpeas, cumin, easy pasta dish, honey, lunch idea, pasta salad recipe, pumpkin, smoked paprika, traditional Italian

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 40

Total Time 50

Servings persons

Calories 128kcal

Ingredients

Spicy chickpeas

1 can chickpeas drained weight 250 grams
1.5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon honey maple syrup for the vegan version
0.5 teaspoon dry rosemary
0.5 teaspoon cumin seeds
0.5 teaspoon smoked paprika
0.5 teaspoon cayenne pepper or 1/4 of spicy chilli powder
0.5 teaspoon salt

Pasta salad

140 g durum wheat sholemeal pasta I used pasta made by Bartolini
400 g pumpkin
2 handfuls baby spinach
black sesame seeds optional
½ lemon (juice and zest)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon honey

Instructions

Instructions wholemeal pasta salad with toasted chickpeas and pumpkin

For this recipe I used the durum wheat pasta made by Bartolini.
Drain the chickpeas and rinse them under cold water. Dry them well with paper towels. The more dry they are the more they will become crispy after baking.
In a bowl whisk olive oil with honey, spices and salt. Add chickpeas to the spice mix and stir well. Place the baking paper on a large baking tray and pour the spicy chickpeas over it. At this point also add sliced pumpkin that you cut to a thickness of 1 – 2 cm.
Bake in a preheated static oven at 180 – 190 ° C for about 30 – 40 minutes, stirring the chickpeas a couple of times while they bake. Also check the pumpkin with a fork being careful not to make it become too soft.
Remove from the oven and set aside to let them cool down. Meanwhile cook the pasta following the instructions on the box, drain, add some olive oil to prevent it from sticking and let it cool down.
Prepare the sauce by mixing oil with lemon juice, Dijon mustard, honey and lemon zest.
Mix the pasta with your spicy chickpeas, diced pumpkin and the sauce. Add two handfuls of baby spinach and sesame seeds to taste. Stir, taste, add more salt if necessary and serve.