Healthy Recipes: Pasta Recipes

[RedRobin]

Roast Pepper Pesto with Pasta

ingredients

6 roasted garlic cloves
4 roasted red peppers
1 tsp cayenne pepper
75g blanched almonds, roughly chopped
50g Parmesan (or vegetarian alternative), roughly chopped, plus extra for serving (optional)
2 tbsp olive oil
400g pasta
large pack basil leaves

method

1. Remove the skin from the roasted garlic cloves. In the small bowl of a food processor, whizz the roasted peppers, garlic, cayenne, almonds, Parmesan and oil until it makes a rough pesto consistency. Taste and season.

2. Bring a pan of water to the boil and cook the pasta following pack instructions. Drain, reserving a little cooking water. Return the pasta to the pan with the pesto, basil and a little of the cooking water, then heat through. Serve with extra Parmesan, if you like.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

ingredients

1 tsp rapeseed oil
280g spaghetti

for the meatballs
200g green lentils (well drained weight from a 400g can)
250g lean minced pork (max 8% fat)
½ tsp finely chopped rosemary
½ tsp Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, crushed

for the sauce
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
2 shallots, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
500g cherry tomatoes, preferably on the vine, halved
2 tsp tomato purée
pinch of chilli flakes
2 tbsp chopped oregano, plus a few chopped leaves to garnish

method

1. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Line a baking sheet with foil and brush with 1 tsp oil. Mash the lentils in a bowl with the back of a fork to break down a bit, but not completely. Stir in the pork, rosemary, mustard, garlic, some pepper to generously season, and mix well with the fork to distribute the lentils evenly. Divide the mixture into 4. Form each quarter into 5 small balls – to give you 20 in total – squeezing the mixture together well as you shape it. Lay the meatballs on the foil and roll them around in the oil to coat all over. Bake for 15 mins until cooked and lightly browned. Remove (leave the oven on) and set aside.

2. While the meatballs cook, heat 2 tsp of the oil for the sauce in a large non-stick frying pan. Tip in the shallots and garlic, and fry on a medium heat for 3-4 mins until softened and tinged brown. Pour in the remaining 1 tsp oil, lay the tomatoes in the pan so most of them are cut-side down (to help release the juices), raise the heat and fry them for 3-4 mins or until the tomatoes are starting to soften and release their juices. Don’t stir, or they may lose their shape. Splash in 125-150ml water so it all bubbles, and gently mix in the tomato purée. Lower the heat and simmer for 2 mins to create a juicy, chunky sauce. Season with the chilli flakes, oregano, pepper and a pinch of salt, and give it a quick stir, adding a drop more water if needed – you want it thick enough to coat the meatballs.

3. Pour the sauce into a casserole dish, add the meatballs and spoon the sauce over them to coat. Cover with foil and bake for 10 mins while you cook the spaghetti.

4. Boil a large saucepan of water. Add the spaghetti, stir and bring back to the boil. Cook for 10-12 mins, or following pack instructions, until al dente. Drain well, season with pepper and serve with the meatballs, sauce and a light sprinkling of oregano.

Tuna Pasta with Rocket and Parsley Pesto

ingredients

400g dried pasta
140g frozen fine green bean
200g cherry tomato, halved
large pack parsley, roughly chopped
100g bag rocket
185g can tuna in sunflower oil, drained but reserve the oil
zest and juice 1 lemon
185g can tuna in spring water, drained
2 tbsp soured cream or cream cheese

method

1. Cook the pasta in a large pan of salted boiling water, adding the green beans and cherry tomatoes for the final 3 mins of cooking time. Drain, reserving a mug of cooking water.

2. Whizz the parsley, half the rocket, 3 tbsp of oil from the tuna, the lemon zest and juice, and some seasoning with enough of the reserved water in a food processor to form a spoonable pesto dressing.

3. Tip the pasta and veg back into the pan and add the pesto, both cans of tuna and the soured cream or cream cheese, stirring through until hot. Remove from the heat and toss the rest of the rocket through the pasta.

[coolbreeze]

Those dishes look so good and very tasty and very yummy.

[coolbreeze]

Thank you very much for selecting my answer as the most helpful opinion.

[RedRobin]

No problem

[SnowHearth]

Only the third one I would classify as healthy

[JiminsHoe]

This is not different from any other pasta lol.
Calorie wise for a person planning to lose weight, pasta is just carbs, high in calories, low in nutrients such as vitamins, fiber, iron, calcium, potassium, etc. Yes energy, but you can get energy from things that aren't just plain ol' carbs.
I recommend spaghetti squash for anyone looking for a healthier and more calorie friendly pasta dish, as for pesto, you could call it healthy but its mainly just olive oil aside from the basil and garlic and parmesan. Look for sauces with an array of veggies such as zucchinis tomatoes olives mushrooms peppers arugula etc

[Yalyublyutyebya]

Here is another one: Gluten and dairy free Crab and Avocado Pasta

Take your food processor and fill it with
2 Avocadoes
1 tsp parsley
1 TBS garlic
1/4-1/2 of a medium sized onion.
juice of half a lemon
cayenne pepper (optional)
salt to taste
1/2 raw red bell pepper or sweet pepper
1 big tomato

Whizz all this up and pour over gluten free pasta then mix in come crab meat or tuna fish. Decorate with basil leaves, and enjoy! This is so yummy.

[Zorax]

Great, are there any vegetarian versions of these recipes?

[sexcrazy12]

sounds lovely, definitely try them

[ThisDudeHere]

I luv pasta

[Leandri]

Oh yum

[Decentguy]

Nice Take!

[1motorbike]

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