Broad Bean (Fava Bean) Pesto Pasta
This super simple pasta dish makes broad beans (aka fava beans) the star! They are blended into a chunky creamy pesto style sauce full of lemon, garlic and basil flavor and tossed with pasta for a simple summery dinner you will love!
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp toasted pine nuts
- 1 large garlic clove, or 2 medium
- 1 large lemon, juiced
- ¾ cup (100 g) podded broad beans / fava beans, this is the amount for the pesto - you can add more beans to the final pasta dish
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 bunch basil
- ½ tsp salt
- 10 oz (275 g) dried pasta
Instructions
- First, boil your beans. If you have fresh beans, boil for 2 minutes. If cooking from frozen, it would be 3-4 minutes. Drain and set aside to cool down while you prep everything else.
- Toast the pine nuts in a hot dry pan until they are getting just a tiny bit browned.
- Add the broad beans, pine nuts, basil, salt and crushed garlic to a food processor. Squeeze the lemon over the top, then pour the oil over the top.
- Pulse until a creamy but chunky pesto sauce has formed. Do a quick taste test and decide if you need any more salt or garlic - if so, add that and pulse a little more.
- Boil your pasta. If you are adding any extra beans to the dish, add them into the pan in the last few minutes of cooking. Reserve a little bit of the cooking water when you drain the pasta.
- Toss the pasta with the pesto, using a splash or two of the pasta cooking water to loosen it up as needed. Add salt and pepper to taste, and toss in some more olive oil too if you'd like a richer finish.
- Serve, with cheese on top if you wish.
Serving: 1g, Calories: 492kcal, Carbohydrates: 61g, Protein: 13g, Fat: 22g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g, Monounsaturated Fat: 12g, Sodium: 7mg, Potassium: 320mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 3g, Vitamin A: 114IU, Vitamin C: 4mg, Calcium: 33mg, Iron: 2mg