Roasted courgette pesto pasta
Serves: 4
Prep time: 15 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photograph by Dan Jones
Roasted courgette pesto pasta
This healthier pesto pasta involves roasting and then blitzing courgettes to give you a soft, sauce-like result without the need for lots of oil
Serves: 4
Prep time: 15 minsTotal time: 
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Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
490Kcal
Fat
19gr
Saturates
5gr
Carbs
57gr
Sugars
4gr
Fibre
6gr
Protein
21gr
Salt
0.4gr
Abigail Spooner
Abi is our Senior Food Producer. An obsessive foodie with a sweet tooth, she is happiest when baking and is a firm believer that there is always room for dessert (preferably following a big bowl of pasta)
See more of Abigail Spooner’s recipes
Abigail Spooner
Abi is our Senior Food Producer. An obsessive foodie with a sweet tooth, she is happiest when baking and is a firm believer that there is always room for dessert (preferably following a big bowl of pasta)
See more of Abigail Spooner’s recipes
Ingredients
- 1 x 500g pack courgettes
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 50g young spinach
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2½ tbsp lemon juice
- 75g Parmesan (or vegetarian alternative), finely grated, plus extra to serve
- 1 x 30g pack basil
- 50g toasted pine nuts
- 300g rigatoni, or other tubular pasta
Step by step
- Preheat the oven to 240°C, fan 220°C, gas mark 9. Trim the ends of the courgettes, then cut in half lengthways and slice into half-moons. Tip onto a large baking tray, toss with the oil and some seasoning. Roast near the top of the oven for 15 minutes until golden and tender. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil.
- Meanwhile, put the spinach, garlic, lemon juice, Parmesan, basil and most of the pine nuts in a food processor.
- Once the courgettes are out of the oven, add the pasta to the pan of boiling water and cook according to pack instructions. Allow the courgettes to cool for 5 minutes, then add to the other ingredients in the food processor. Pulse until the mixture resembles a chunky pesto. Season to taste.
- Drain the pasta then stir in the courgette pesto. Divide between four bowls, top with the reserved pine nuts and scatter with extra Parmesan.
