Everyone knowing me the slightest can clearly testify: I love Italian food. Me and Pizza, Pasta and Ice cream are a never-ending love story with true passion.
Fact being that those mentioned do however not fall into the category of those #leangreen #healthylife foods, I had to come up with a compromise. Clearly, I was not going to give up on my weekly portion of pasta. Not happening.
Soooo, I created my own recipe for a pasta dish that’s both delicious, mouth-wateringly dense in flavours, yet abundant in bountiful and nourishing ingredients. Nourishing pasta, all day everyday, I’m telling ya!
The recipe couldn’t be simpler as it’s basically the bottomline, basic pasta recipe everyone knows, just substituted and supplemented with some healthier options.
What you’ll need (for two portions):
200g brown rice noodles– I am not a fan of the pseudo gluten free train everyone’s hopped on, but it is a fact that our bodies take much longer to digest gluten in the form it’s sold today, which is very refined and has little to do with the kind of gluten our ancestors used to consume. That’s why I try to steer clear of gluten within my own home, meaning that I bake my own bread and buy these brown rice noodles which are not only affordable, but you basically don’t taste any difference to regular noodles.
1 courgette
1-2 paprika
handful of cherry tomatoes
handful of spinach
handful of olives
1 onion
coriander
chilli
garlic
boullion cube
tomato puree
red pesto
oil to fry ( I used coconut oil)
Instructions:
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Slice all vegetables into edible-sized chunks.
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Fry the onion in some oil first until it’s sightly golden.
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Chop up all vegetables and add them to the pan; my trick for extra flavor is to add all spices, as well as the tomato puree and a spoon (or two) of pesto, 2 cups of water and a chunk of the boullion cube at this point already and let it all simmer for ten minutes with a lid on. This way, the vegetables will absorb the flavor of the spices and the pesto whilst cooking and will form a dense sauce naturally, without any additives.
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Cook your noodles as per instruction and add to the sauce with the olives at the end- make sure to add the olives at the end as otherwise, they’ll become soggy, and ain’t nobodies in for a soggy meal, am I right?
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Et voila, you’ve got your nourishing pasta! Feel free to add/layer generous amounts of cheese on top for that extra kick (nobodies judging) and tuck in!
I hope you liked this recipe! What are your tips for making healthy pasta dishes? I would love to know!
All the love,
Mila
Manger with Mila 