Courgette, pine nut and coriander pasta

You will need to lay your hands on a pleasingly-sized courgette for this.

I was at home unexpectedly today so grabbed things from the fridge that needed using and came up with this. It’s light and fresh, but with an almost creaminess from the olive oil. It’s also citrusy and has the earthiness of the toasted pine nuts. The pine nuts also give it crunch. I loved it.

Mmm rating: mm mm mm

Cost: £2.75

Calories: 550

What to listen to while cooking: Risotto aux courgettes by Arnaud Fleurent-Didier

What to watch while eating: Hm… food and music, food and music… has to be Take That, mops and jelly

 

 

What to use – serves 1

• 100g pasta
• One medium to large courgette
• Two table spoons of pine nuts
• A clove of garlic
• A handful of fresh coriander
• Olive oil
• Sea salt and black pepper
• Juice of half a lemon – you may need less

How to use it

Put your pasta on to boil – mine took 10 mins.

Wash your courgette well. (If I don’t, I find it can taste quite bitter.) Chop just over half of your courgette into big chunks and put into a blender. I used my nutribullet. Chop the rest of the courgette into smaller bitesize pieces.

Add your handful of coriander to the blender and a good glug of olive oil. Blitz them and set to one side.

Put a non-stick frying pan onto a low to medium heat. Add a glug of olive oil and the pinenuts. Stir and cook for a couple of minutes until the pinenuts start to brown. Add your crushed garlic and bitesized courgette. Stir and cook for a couple more minutes.

Add your blitzed mixture to the pan, stir well and let bubble for a couple more minutes. Add a bit more olive oil if you think it needs it.

Drain your pasta, put it back into the pan, then spatula the courgette mix into the pasta pan. Squeeze in your lemon, add a good pinch of sea salt and a good grind of pepper. Stir well then taste it. If it needs more, add it until you get a level you like.

Eat.