Green Goddess Pasta

Everyone knows you should eat your greens right, but if your the sort of person who really struggles to get enough green veg into your diet this recipe may just provide a solution. This was super tasty too, because eating green doesn't mean bad food! One of the worst smells ever is overcooked green veg, such as spinach, cabbage and broccoli, it's smells like something died. It's the sort of smell that makes meat eaters say "how can you survive being vegan?" Well let me tell you there is absolutely no way you can get that smell with this recipe, because most of the dish is raw. Only the pasta is cooked.

Talking of the pasta I found it in my local Sainsbury's and was instantly attracted because of it's colour. But then I saw it was gluten free and I was sold. If you want to recreate this recipe exactly, this is the pasta I used, but feel free to use normal pasta, another green pasta, or ditch the pasta altogether and stick just with the courgetti noodles.

This dish is so simple it could be knocked up in 10 minutes, I spent way longer cooking it because I love a faff, but it would make a really good staple weekday dinner. Plus it still looks divine and like you put in loads of effort, this is the way to achieving goddess status, look like you've worked hard when really you have done very little.

The sauce of the pasta is a spinach pesto. Pesto is one of my favourite things, it's so easy to knock up in a blender and basil is just an all round killer flavour. Basil has long been heralded for it's health benefits. For example holy basil is a staple ingredient in ayurvedic an ancient Indian remedy. Basil's health properties are now very much understood in the western world too. Fresh, it contains high levels of vitamin K, (just two tablespoons provide 29% of your daily recommended value), vitamin A and has anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties due to the volatile oils it contains.

Any green goddess (or god of course) will cook and then devour this dish in minutes. So give it a try, also let me know any other ways you find to up your green intake? I'm sure we could all do with a bit more

green in our lives!

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the Pesto

85g pine nuts

40g basil

75g spinach

4 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 juice of a lemon

1-2 cloves garlic (to taste)

For the Pasta

200g edamame and mung bean fettuccine (or another pasta of your choosing)

1 courgette

200g sugar snaps

1 avocado (diced)

1 cup of peas (fresh of frozen depending on what you have available)

To serve

Crushed pecans

Method

1) Place all the pesto ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.

2) Spiralize or grate your courgette.

3) Cook your pasta according to packet instructions

4) Once the pasta is cooked remove from the heat and drain. Place the pesto and other ingredients into the pan with the the pasta and mix thoroughly. Make sure to defrost your peas beforehand if using frozen peas.

5) Serve with crushed pecans to add bite and flavour depth.