I love green food in the springtime. It just calls to me and so most of my food has been green for the past few weeks. I already have many little plants growing on my windowsill and wishing to be planted outside soon, but it is still slightly too early for them. Luckily, my windows face south, so they have plenty of light to enjoy. So, the greens for today’s recipe are still store-bought, but very soon I hope to use my own herbs and salads!
The pasta today is green too. Or, to be precise, the sauce is green and you can choose whatever your pasta preference is for the actual pasta part. My choice is usually whole wheat, but there are so many different gluten-free pasta varieties out there as well – lentil pasta, quinoa pasta, oat pasta, and even a buckwheat one.
But the sauce is as green as it gets. I used green peas and fresh arugula and added toasted sunflower seeds for this extra e-vitamin kick of goodness. The whole recipe takes around 15 minutes and is full of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. Instead of the rocket, you can also use all kinds of other greens – spinach, basil, maybe even dill. Go green!
Pasta with Arugula Pesto and Green Peas
Cooking time: 15 min
Serves: 2
Ingredients:
7 oz pasta (I always use whole wheat, but feel free whatever your preference from gluten-free to extra white)
2 oz sundried tomatoes (I use the dry ones. If you use the marinated ones, add these last)
2 oz sunflower seeds
7 oz zucchini, sliced
7 oz green peas
3 ½ oz rocket
The juice from up to 1 lemon
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt, to taste
Instructions:
Bring a big pot of water to a boil, season with salt, and cook the pasta to desired softness. If you use dry tomatoes add these to the cooking water too.
At the same time, toast the sunflower seed on a dry pan. If these are done pour them into the blender and at the same pan cook the zucchini slices in a drop of oil.
Add almost all the rocket and peas to the blender (leave a few for decorating purposes), squeeze in the juice of ½ lemon and oil. Whizz to a paste and have a taste. You might wish to add in extra lemon or salt.
Once the pasta is cooked, drain it loosely and mix in the pesto and fried zucchini.
Decorate with the rest of the peas and rocket leaves and enjoy while hot!
By Kadri Raig
Kadri is a food blogger and yoga teacher from Estonia. She loves to spend time in the kitchen, but most of her recipes are simple and don’t take more than 20 minutes of active cooking time. She thinks that everybody can find time to cook healthy food at home, it is just a question of planning. "I work in an office full time, teach yoga 7-8 hours a week and write a blog. So if I manage to cook most of my meals, then so do you!" Connect with Kadri and enjoy many more of her delicious healthy recipes on her website here: www.kahvliga.ee.
Enjoy this FREE 25-Minute yoga class from home, before your delicious plaintain nachos!
25-Minute Full Body Yoga with Keith Allen