Green Goddess Homemade Pesto Pasta
Easy, nutritious, green & delicious - homemade pesto packed with hidden goodness
Yesssss! A nutritious pesto pasta that all 4 kids, plus parents, loved!
ADULT & CHILD-FRIENDLY
So my rule is that I can't add something to the child-friendly catergory until it passes the eating-test by all four of my children, which isn't easy to achieve. Encouragement is allowed, force-feeding isn't! Some of my children are more experimental than others, but pleasing all four is generally a mission - my personal mission! Half the time things are declared 'gross and disgusting' before they've even looked up from whatever they're doing. But I'm not giving up on getting them to try things!
THEY ALWAYS PREFER "DAD PASTA!" (EYEROLL EMOJI!)
I wasn't too happy with my husband the other day as he made dinner for the kids the other day and it was just pesto and pasta. Don't get me wrong, I was grateful he made dinner and I know pesto pasta is the delicious quick-fix we need sometimes. I've made it many a time too (although I usually at least throw in an olive as a nod to some vegetable content!) but it was one of those days where I was conscious the kids had barely eaten any good stuff and I really needed to get some veg in them. It then became my quest to create a similarly delicious dinner with homemade pesto with hidden nutrition. I know one of my mistakes can be trying to cram in too many ingredients into things, when simple and healthy can often be a much more effective tactic! I was so pleased with this recipe, and so was Harvey! (see below photo).
PASTA
I usually use dried, wholewheat pasta in any pasta dish I make, for the extra nutrients and fibre compared to white, and I prefer the taste anyway. It's actually also lower in calories and fat than the equivalent white pasta (which I didn't know until just now) although it's slightly lower in protein, but the sauce has plenty of that. White and fresh pasta would also be delicious. Just cook your pasta of choice according to the instructions.
INGREDIENTS & SUBSTITUTES
FROZEN PEAS & EDEMAME BEANS - I use a mix of frozen garden peas and edemame beans in this recipe. Edemame beans have a lot of health benefits as they contain omega-3 fatty acids and are a complete protein, which means they contain all nine essential amino acids that our bodies aren't able to produce on their own. It's really important that edemame beans are cooked through, as they can cause stomach cramps if not. They are easy to buy frozen from most supermarkets. If you don't have them though, you could just use all peas.
FRESH SPINACH or KALE - I have tried this recipe with spinach and kale and both work really well. If using kale use the leaves and chop off any tough stems.
BASIL - Basil is really essential to the flavour so don't skip it! It's fine to use the leaves and the tender stems so they don't need to get wasted.
GARLIC - I absolutely love garlic, and this sauce does definitely have a garlic flavour. I think it really adds to the deliciousness, but if you want to avoid garlic it would still be yummy without.
CREAM & OIL - For this recipe, I fancied a bit of a creamy pesto, so I used oat cream and a dash of olive oil and it was delicious. If you don't have cream you can just use oil. Olive oil is the most classic oil and probably the most delicious oil to use in pesto-style sauces, but other oils such as coconut oil and rapseed would also work.
LEMON JUICE AND SEASONINGS - Lemon (or lime) juice and sea salt and cracked black pepper really give the sauce a zing. Don't skip these!
PARMESAN & ALTERNATIVES - Parmesan really makes this top notch and massively adds to the flavour. However, for a vegan version you could use a vegan parmesan alternative or nutritional yeast. Mature cheddar also works if that's the only cheese you have in your fridge!
NUTS & ALTERNATIVES - You can use a mix of any nuts, although I think some walnuts, pecans and pine nuts in the mix really add a depth of flavour. I know there are some people who have nut allergies who are fine with pine nuts (as they are technically a seed). I think roast chick peas would also be a tasty alternative, although I haven't tried them in this recipe, yet!
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
You will need a food processor, blender or stick blender to blitz up the ingredients.
STORAGE
This pesto pasta will last a couple of days in the fridge, and is good hot or cold.
Now to make some delicious home-made pesto pasta - here's the recipe!
Hope you enjoy as much as we did!
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