Healthy green Goddess pasta
When it comes to pasta, usually it is an unhealthy meal . e.g. cheese macaroni, Lasagna, Ravioli, Alfredo. And children love these as they are loaded with cheese and hardly have any vegetables in them. My child is not any exception. She is over the moon when I tell her its pasta for lunch box or dinner. But her mummy doesn’t let go of any chance to make it as healthy as possible.
List of healthier options in pasta: Thanks to so many healthier options coming up in supermarket which are not only preservative free but also prepared with organic produce . Wholewheat penne, fusilli are history now, all hands grab them over traditional ‘white ‘pasta. Recently I’ve found array of healthier dry pastas like red lentil, pea protein, soy protein, quinoa pasta, Teff pasta , brown rice elbows, edamame , chickpeas fettuccine and so on.
The one which has caught my attention is the buckwheat one. Probably because buckwheat always have been part of Indian food since long time.The rest of the world has recently came to know about the nutritional values of this ancient seed. Yes it is s seed and not grain..just like quinoa. Tremendous nutritional value being rich in amino acids, antioxidants like tannins, catechin, gluten & fat free, rich in fibre and proteins, folic acid as well as carbohydrates!
We started using this buckwheat pasta and found no difference in taste as compared to the wholewheat one. Anyways the dry pasta taste is always masked by addition of sauces, cheese , vegetables or meat.
What goes in this recipe?
I’ve used buckwheat fusilli pasta, but you can use any kind of pasta you like..wholewheat, pea protein , quinoa etc.Choose healthier as we are making healthy green pasta!
Other healthy ingredients being spinach, fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil, walnuts, beans etc etc. Choose what is available in your pantry and preferences of family. It looks like overdose of healthy ingredients but trust me you will amaze yourself when you make this…it tastes fantastic. And of course there is this ‘feel good’ after this meal! That’s all ‘Reciphoria‘ is all about anyways.
Recipe is broken into two parts:
- Making fresh pesto
- cooking pasta
You can skip the pesto step and substitute ready to use pesto.But I’m little hesitant to eat cheese made with animal rennet e.g. Parmesan which is usually added in ready pestos. Further,I’ve control over how much cheese I can use as well.
to watch video click here:
- Making of pesto: It’s as simple as blending all ingredients for ‘pesto’ till coarse or as smooth as you want.
- Further add spinach to make it even healthier and greener.
Steps to make:
3. Cooking of pasta: Cook pasta as per packet instructions as every pasta is different and take less or more time. After 2 minutes of boiling pasta add the beans which can get cooked along with pasta.
4. Later add in pesto-spinach, pasta-beans and some peas.Mix well so pasta is coated well with green goodness.
5. Adjust seasoning..salt pepper, chilli flakes etc ad top it up with cheese of choice.
6. Serve warm with fresh basil. Little also goes long way.
: Recipe Card :
| Prep Time | 2 minutes |
| Cook Time | 15 minutes |
| Servings |
people
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- 1 cup fresh basil leaves
- 2 Tbsp hard cheese (I've used cheddar..choose any hard cheese , e.g. parmesan)
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 5-6 small garlic pods
- 2 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt ( or to taste)
- 1/4 tsp black pepper ..freshly crushed ( or to taste)
- 7-8 walnut halves (slightly roasted )
- 1 cup baby spinach leaves
- 2 cups wholewheat pasta (I've used buckwheat fusilli pasta)
- 1 cup fresh / frozen peas
- 1 cup fresh beans ..chopped in 2 inch pieces.
- 1 + 1 tsp oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
Ingredients
For Pesto:
Foe Pasta:
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- In a small blender jar, put all ingredients listed under ' For pesto' and blend to get coarse paste ready. This is pesto. Further add spinach leaves and blend again to see fine mixture of green glory- pesto with spinach puree 🙂
- Boil 4 cups of water in stock pot. Once water comes to rolling boil add in salt, 1 tsp oil and pasta. Stir in as the pasta might stick together. After 2 minutes, add in the chopped beans. Cook pasta according to packet instructions. Mine took 7-8 minutes .
- When cooked, drain pasta and keep aside.
- In a wide pan, heat 1 tsp oil and add in prepared pesto. Saute just for a minute and drop in peas, cooked pasta with beans and peas. Mix everything well till pasta is coated well with pesto-spinach mixture.
- Adjust seasoning (salt, pepper) to your taste. To serve you can even add some chilli flakes, grated cheese and fresh basil leaves.
- Make it even healthier by using ricotta cheese.
1. Instead of making puree, spinach can be finely chopped and added in oil just before pesto. I like it pureed so my kids think thats part of pesto 🙂
2. Instead of walnuts, you can use pine nuts , cashew or even almonds.
3. Pasta can be made vegan by substituting the cheese which goes in pesto with cashews. Cashews need to be soaked in warm water for minimum 15 minutes.
4. Pasta can be made gluten free: use buckwheat or lentil fusilli /penne pasta.
5. Use ricotta cheese to top at the end and make the pasta even more healthier.
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