Yesterday I was at the grocery store trying to figure out what I wanted to make for dinner...I had nothing set in mind and I was walking around aimlessly for a while when I remembered a pasta that my good friend Nilam had mentioned she had made earlier in the week...it was a simple olio with garlic, spinach, and avocado.I knew I wanted something with those flavours and so decided to make a pasta dish inspired by what she had created. This is what I came up with...a spinach walnut pesto with avocado on green tea pasta...a very green and healthy pasta and I named it Nilam's Green Pasta for two reasons...the first because she is the most environmentally friendly person I know...she recycles, composts, brings her own canvas bag when she goes shopping, and is now thinking of becoming a vegetarian...when I think of going green I immediately think of her...and she has taught me a lot about changing small daily habits to make a difference...the second reason this pasta fits her so well is the fact that she loves to eat healthy food and is particularly fond of spinach...she calls herself the spinach girl...so this concoction was perfect for her!
Nilam's Green Pasta
Spinach Walnut Pesto:
3 cups fresh spinach leaves
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup toasted walnuts
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
3 cloves roasted garlic
2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tsp lemon zest
Salt and Pepper to taste
Add all ingredients to a food processor and pulse until it is has a smooth creamy consistency.
1 avocado cubed
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Green tea pasta
1 tsp salt
Toss the avocado cubes with the lemon juice to keep it from oxidising and turning brown. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta as per package instructions. Once the pasta is done toss it with the spinach walnut pesto and top with the avocado cubes. Enjoy!
This was very tasty the only mistake I made was to overcook the pasta slightly and so it was a bit starchy and clumpy...but the flavours worked very well together! I brought this pasta over to Nilam's place last night and we had a lovely dinner! Oh and the photo does not do it justice...sometimes a dish can taste great but is just not photogenic at all!
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8 comments:
bravo! it was a perfect night. food and company was great! just what i needed. and i'm already a vegetarian!
Nilam - My pleasure :) Oh and I wasn't sure if you had already switched over to being fully vegetarian...hee hee..you go girl!
That looks really healthy and so tasty. I love pesto, and adding avocado is genius! I haven't seen green tea pasta before, but it makes for the perfect green meal.
Go Nilam on the green habits!
wow wow wow!!
I had soemthing like this in La Bodega. It freaked me whn it was served, but one bite and I was bent over the bowl hogging it til it was empty! LOL. Darn good stuff!
Btw, spinach is bayam right??
This is lovely!! Green is my absolute favouritest colour, and I can never say no to avocado! Also, I'm inclining towards a more vegetarian diet as well these days, so this is perfect!
Arwen - Me too...pesto is great for all sorts of things!
TheNomadGourmand - hee hee yes spinach is bayam...but I use the baby spinach that I find at the store...seems to work better than the usual spinach.
550ml - hee hee...some ppl are scared away by the greeness of this and others love it :D
one look at it and you know it musta tasted great!!! hey, giant had offer for avocadoes at RM1.99 each. donno if they're any good.
They say it's not easy being green but when you serve up pasta like that I beg to differ! It looks delicious :D
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