Ah yes. Green vegetables. Apparently quite good for you.
This recipe morphed out of the lovely pesto mushrooms at Café Créme in Stellenbosch, the typical quick meal of pasta with a jar of pesto and the desire to try and squeeze more veggies into our diet.
The secret to this dish is to use good pesto, but not too much. The Pesto Princess sells their Queen and King size portions of pesto in a plastic tub at the Stellenbosch Slow Food Market which make them ideal for the freezer. I then use a sharp knife to hack out the right amount. Alternatively, you can make it or buy good quality try a farmer's market or deli) pesto in a jar. Use a few spoonfuls for this recipe. Spoon the rest onto a piece of cling wrap, wrap tightly and place in the freezer. Then you can just cut of pieces when you need them and the pesto doesn't go manky in the fridge.
Serves four
Ingredients
200g dried macaroni
1/2 head of broccoli, broken into small florets
125g button mushrooms, wiped clean and quarted
100g zucchini/courgette, sliced
100g mange tout/ snow peas or frozen peas
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons good quality ready made pesto
Salt and pepper
Grated Parmesan to serve (optional)
Prepare the vegetables as above and admire
Cook the pasta as usual in a large pot of slightly salted water until al dente. In the meantime...
Heat a pan over medium head. Add butter. When the butter is melted add the mushrooms and fry until tinged brown on both sides.
Add the broccoli and zucchini. Stir fry for about 5-10 minutes until the zucchini is cooked but still crunchy. Throw in the snow peas/mange tout or peas and pesto - stir fry for a further 1 - 2 minutes.
Add the pasta to to the pan. Mix through.
Use salt and pepper to taste and serve - if you like with some grated Parmesan.
