Supper Club: 3 pasta recipes to try this week

Donna Hay’s family-friendly, extra-healthy pesto pasta
Serves 4-6

Full of fresh greens and lots of flavour, this pasta dish will please the whole family.

Ingredients

• 2 small heads broccoli (500g), roughly chopped
• 80ml extra virgin olive oil
• 375g orecchiette (or your favourite pasta)
• 45g slivered almonds or pine nuts
• 40g basil leaves (the star of pesto)
• 25g mint leaves (a fresh twist)
• 25g flat-leaf parsley leaves
• 2 tsp finely grated lemon rind
• 60ml lemon juice
• 80g finely grated Parmesan
• sea salt and cracked black pepper, to taste

Method

1. Place the broccoli in a food processor and pulse until it resembles grains of rice (try 5 bursts of 3 seconds each).
2. Place half the oil in a large deep-sided non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add the broccoli and cook, stirring with a spatula, for 3-4 minutes or until it’s almost soft but still bright green. Remove from the heat.
3. Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of salted boiling water, stirring once with a spatula, for 8-10 minutes or until just soft.
4. Place the almonds, basil, mint, parsley, lemon rind and juice, the Parmesan and the remaining oil in the food processor and process into a rough paste. Pour it into the pan with the broccoli, scraping the sides with a spatula.
5. Carefully reserve 125ml of the pasta’s cooking liquid. Place a colander in the sink and, wearing oven gloves, pour in the pasta to drain. Place the hot pasta and the reserved liquid into the pan with the pesto. Place over low heat, add some salt and pepper and stir until heated through and combined.
6. Divide the pasta between serving bowls and top with some extra Parmesan to serve, if you like.

A garlic and spinach pasta recipe that the whole family will love
Serves 4

Keep it simple with this tasty pasta recipe from Abra Berens’ cookbook, Ruffage: A Practical Guide to Vegetables.

Ingredients

• 1 small onion, cut into thin slices
• 6 garlic cloves, slivered
• butter for frying
• salt
• 120ml white wine or dry vermouth
• 240ml chicken or vegetable stock or water
• 55g anchovy-caper butter, cut into cubes
• 240ml cream
• 455g long pasta, just finished cooking
• 1 bag spinach (115g), chopped into stripsRaclette or Parmesan cheese

Method

1. In a shallow frying pan, sweat the onion and garlic in a knob of the butter and a pinch of salt over low heat until soft, 5-7 minutes. Add the wine and reduce by half, about 3 minutes. Increase the heat and add the stock.
2. When the liquid comes to a boil, add the butter and cream and let reduce until slightly thickened, 3-5 minutes.
3. Drain the pasta and toss with the sauce and the spinach, allowing the heat of the pasta to wilt the spinach.
4. Serve with a satisfyingly hefty grating of cheese.

Extracted from Ruffage: A Practical Guide to Vegetables by Abra Berens (Chronicle Books). Photographs by EE Berger.

20-minute pesto prawn pasta
Serves 4

Making the fresh pesto sauce takes about as long as the pasta needs to cook, so you can turn Gino D’Aampo’s recipe around in record time – perfect for hungry mouths.

Ingredients

• 60g basil leaves
• 50g pine nuts
• 1 garlic clove, peeled
• 130ml extra virgin olive oil
• 30g freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 150g cooked peeled large prawns
• 500g farfalle
• salt and black pepper, to taste

Method

1. Bring 5 litres of water to the boil in a large saucepan with 1 tablespoon of fine salt. Put the basil, pine nuts and garlic in a food processor. Drizzle in the oil and blitz until smooth.
2. Transfer the basil mixture to a large serving bowl and fold in the Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper and fold in the prawns. Set aside.
3. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in the boiling water until al dente. To get the al dente perfect bite, cook the pasta for 1 minute less than instructed on the packet and always keep the pan uncovered. A good-quality dried pasta will take 8-10 minutes to cook.
4. Just before the pasta is ready to be drained, remove 4 tablespoons of the boiling water from the pan and add to the bowl with the pesto mixture.
5. Once the pasta is cooked, drain and tip it into the bowl with the pesto mixture.
   Fold together for 30 seconds allowing the pesto to coat the pasta. Serve immediately.

Extracted from Pronto! Let’s Cook Italian in 20 Minutes by Gino D’Acampo (Kyle Books).