One Pot Spring Pesto Pulse Pasta
Easy, one pot meals, what's not to love? Minimal clean up is something that wins me over every time! The fact this quick and simple meal takes less than 30 minutes and tastes delicious is just a bonus!
I adore asparagus season and have been going a bit crazy since they've come down in price recently. Not an asparagus fan? No worries, just add some chopped zucchini or broccoli florets! Are you on the pulse pasta bandwagon yet?
Isn't technology amazing, now we're making pasta from pulses! The main reason I choose to eat pulse pasta is for the higher protein content. My favourite brand (San Remo) has 21.3g of protein vs just 12g of protein in traditional wheat pasta. Another good alternative is the new quinoa rice blend pasta from Ceres Organics, which again boosts the protein content, making the meal more satiating and not such a massive carbohydrate hit. I used a ready-made vegan pesto from the supermarket because I wanted to keep this meal to under 30 minutes.
If you've got a) more time and b) the inclination, feel free to make your own from scratch. It's arguably more delicious and is actually really quick if you've got some basil, cashew nuts (or pine nuts if you're rich!), olive oil, garlic, lemon juice and some nutritional yeast. This dish works really well heated for lunch the next day too, so make plenty and enjoy!
One Pot Spring Pesto Pulse Pasta
A one-pot meal in under 30 minutes. A winner in my book for sure!
Ingredients:
250 g packet of pulse pasta
1/4 tsp salt
1 bunch fresh asparagus
1 cup frozen garden peas
1/3 cup pesto
2 large handfuls of fresh baby spinach
1 lemon zest of
Directions:
In a large pot, heat 6 cups of water to the boil and salt the water. Chop the asparagus into bite-sized pieces.
Add pasta and cook as per packet instructions (around 8-10 minutes) or until al dente.
3 minutes before the pasta is cooked, add frozen peas and asparagus to the pot and cook a further 3 minutes to finish the pasta and blanch the veggies.
Drain water from the cooked pasta and veggies, then mix through the spinach leaves and pesto to the hot pasta.
Serve pasta into bowls, then sprinkle with lemon zest and salt and pepper to taste.
