Beetroot Pesto Pasta
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- Serves: 4
- Preparation: 5
- Cooking: 30
- Ready: 35
This nutty beetroot pesto packs so much flavour, and when is pink pasta never a fun dinner to serve up?
Ingredients
- 200 g uncooked beetroot
- 400 g dried wholemeal spaghetti or penne pasta
- 130 g pine nuts
- 100 g frozen peas
- 1½ cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 30 g rocket
Method
Preheat your oven to 220°C (200°C fan)/425°F (400°F fan)/gas mark 7 (gas mark 6 fan).
Wash the beetroot and remove any dirt and blemishes, then roughly chop into bite-sized pieces. Place them on a baking tray, sprinkle with a pinch of salt and drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until well roasted and slightly charred around the edges.
Bring a medium saucepan of water to the boil, add 1 tablespoon of salt and cook the pasta according to the packet instructions.
Toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan over high heat for 5 minutes, stirring regularly until golden. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Drain and rinse the pasta, reserving some of the pasta water. Place the peas in a bowl, pour over the pasta water and leave them to sit for 5 minutes. Then, drain and rinse the peas.
Peel and chop the garlic and place it in a food processor with the roasted beetroot, balsamic vinegar, olive oil and 1 teaspoon of salt. Blend until smooth. Add the pine nuts and pulse until they’re broken up but still slightly chunky for texture.
To assemble, put the cooked pasta into a large pan and add half the beetroot pesto, half the peas and the rocket. Stir together and warm over medium heat for 2–3 minutes, stirring regularly.
Divide between 4 bowls and serve with the remaining peas scattered on top.
Additional notes
Recipe courtesy of The Happy Pear. Their cookbook The Happy Pear 20: Recipes and Learnings From the First 20 Years is available now.
“We absolutely love this our Beetroot Pesto Pasta recipe! The nutty beetroot pesto packs so much flavour and when is pink pasta never a fun dinner to serve up? We use wholemeal spaghetti in this recipe as it’s high in fibre but you can use whatever pasta you have in your cupboard. Equally, we’ve topped it with a peppery rocket but you can garnish with anything you fancy. Basil works wonderfully but if you’re really looking to minimise your waste, you can even boil down your beetroot stem and leaves (finely chopped) and toss them through your pasta just before serving. We promise, it will be delicious.
Beetroot benefits: Beetroot is packed with antioxidants, evident from its bright red colour. When we first opened our juice bar, our aprons and hands used to be stained pink from juicing fresh beetroots. A simplistic way to think of antioxidants and their benefits for the body is that another name for rust is oxidation, so antioxidants help slow down the build-up of ‘rust’ in our body by slowing down cellular degradation. Research published in the journal Nutrients showed that eating beetroot can help dilate blood vessels because of its dietary nitrates, enhancing our physical performance.
This is a winning dish in both our households, with our kids loving the look and taste of it. It’s so easy that if your kids are into cooking, they can roll up their sleeves and give you a hand in the kitchen, with some of the simpler steps … we all need a chief button presser for the food processor.”
Nutrition
Calories: 250 kcal
Carbohydrates: 10 g
Protein: 6 g
Fat: 22 g
Saturated fat: 2g
Polyunsaturated fat: 11 g
Monounsaturated fat: 6 g
Sodium: 6 mg
Potassium: 296 mg
Fibre: 3 g
Sugar: 4 g
Vitamin A: 379 IU
Vitamin C: 12 mg
Calcium: 28 mg
Iron: 2 mg
