Angel Hair Pesto Pasta
Freshly prepared fresh basil pesto tossed into angel hair (capellini) pasta - this is a staple recipe worth mastering! This recipe adds a little baby spinach to the pesto for a nutritional boost, and I like to serve it with some fresh cherry tomatoes for a quick healthy dinner.
Ingredients
- 12 oz (340 g) angel hair (capellini) pasta
- 1.5 cups (225 g) cherry tomatoes, halved
Pesto
- 3 Tbsp pine nuts
- 3-4 cups (75 g) basil leaves
- ⅓ cup (45 g) parmesan or Italian hard cheese, grated
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1 cup (30 g) baby spinach, optional, scale amount up or down if you wish
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) olive oil, you may want more, up to 1/2 cup
Instructions
- Toast your pine nuts. Heat a frying pan on a low heat, without any oil, and add the pine nuts for a minute or two, mixing regularly, until they're lightly browned and smelling toasty.
- Add the garlic, spinach and MOST (about 2/3rds) of the basil, pine nuts and cheese to your food processor or mini chopper. Add a few grinds of salt. Blend until finely chopped.
- Add the lemon juice and blend, slowly adding the oil to the mixture, until smooth.
- Now add the reserved basil, pine nuts and cheese into the food processor with the remaining oil. Pulse gently until these ingredients are incorporated into the pesto but in larger pieces. Add more oil if you think it needs it.
- Set the pesto aside while you boil your pasta according to package instructions.
- Once the pasta is ready, remove from the heat and toss with the basil pesto. Serve immediately, with cherry tomatoes and additional cheese (if desired) on top.
Calories: 568kcal, Carbohydrates: 71g, Protein: 17g, Fat: 25g, Saturated Fat: 4g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g, Monounsaturated Fat: 14g, Cholesterol: 6mg, Sodium: 153mg, Potassium: 502mg, Fiber: 5g, Sugar: 5g, Vitamin A: 1999IU, Vitamin C: 33mg, Calcium: 173mg, Iron: 3mg