Courgette and pea pasta

July 18, 2019
Mains
Family Verdict:
8
/10

Ingredients

  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 2 courgettes
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • ½ tsp dried crushed chillies (optional)
  • 250g fresh lasagne sheets
  • 160g fresh garden peas (or frozen)
  • ½ a bunch of fresh mint (15g)
  • 50g Parmigiano Reggiano
  • 1 lemon
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Peel and finely slice the garlic; trim and halve the courgettes lengthways, then slice into half-moons.
  • Place a large non-stick frying pan over a medium heat with the olive oil. Add the garlic and chilli flakes (if using), cook for 1 min, then add the courgettes and a pinch of sea salt and black pepper. Cook for 10 mins, or until golden and softened, stirring occasionally.
  • Roughly tear the lasagne sheets and drop into the boiling water along with the peas. Cook for 2 mins, then drain, reserving a mugful of pasta water.
  • Toss the drained pasta and peas into the courgette pan with a good splash of pasta water. Tear in the mint leaves, then finely grate in most of the Parmesan. Add another splash of pasta water, then squeeze in all the lemon juice; toss well, then taste and season to perfection.
  • Dish up, finely grate over the remaining Parmesan and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil, before tucking in.
  • Method

    This is the first of a few summery veggie based dishes. As with everyone, trying to rebalance your meat/veg ratio can be a bit of a struggle. Meat is convenient, filling, tasty and often cheap - which veggies can be perceived as being the opposite of. So I am looking for veggie recipes that are quick and delicious but also with a tall teenage boy in the house, nutritious and filling. There probably needs to be some carbs involved!

    Summer is always a good time to do this because veg are varied, plentiful, flavourful and cheap. I saw this recipe when I was mooching round Tesco and it appealed to me so I went home and made it. It was good - summery and light but also satisfying. It also had a "feature" in that it used torn-up lasagne sheets as the pasta, which was unusual and appealing to the eye. The recipe called for fresh egg lasagne, but I only had dried - so I cooked that in boiling water beforehand. I broke it up before cooking to give randomness to the past a shapes.

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