We’ve all been there. The moment you get home late from work and realise you have to cook dinner. Then there’s the lazy Sunday spent reading only to realise it’s 2:00pm and you haven’t had lunch yet!
What do you do in those moments when you still want a super delicious home cooked meal in minutes?
Well I might be a little bias but you can’t go past this Pulse Penne with Pesto Recipe.
I love the nutty flavour that Pulse Penne brings to the dish. If I’m feeling extra adventurous and have some leftover chicken in the fridge I’ll throw it in towards the end for an extra tasty addition.
The great thing about this dish is that substitutions are super easy to make with this recipe. You can use any pasta and herbs you have on hand.
My Minty Pesto recipe is one of my faves and you can find it right here.
I love having pesto on hand and ready to go in the freezer for times like this because it’s so versatile. It can be used on pizza bases, meats and even veggie! Mmmm who wouldn’t love some baked potatoes covered in pesto right now?!
There are so many variations that you can make with this recipe. So use it as a base and change it up.
As always, make sure you let me know what you’re cooking by tagging me over on insta @mysimpleplate
Enjoy!
Pulse Penne with Baby Spinach, Green Beans and Mint Pesto
INGREDIENTS
- 250g Pulse Pasta or your favourite pasta, note keep some pasta water
- 1 C Mint Pesto https://mysimpleplate.com.au/recipes/minty-herb-pesto/
- 2 C Green Beans fresh or frozen
- 2 C Baby Spinach tightly packed
- 2 tbsp Nutritional Yeast
- 2 tbsp Pumpkin Seeds
- Salt & Pepper to taste
METHOD
- Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil
- Once water is boiling rapidly, add pasta and cook as per instructions on box/packet
- While pasta is cooking, in a fry pan, place green beans and 2 tablespoons of pasta water. Cook until just tender
- By this time the pasta should be cooked. Just before draining the pasta, reserve 1 Cup of the water and set aside.
- Add pasta and pesto to pan and stir through until pasta is coated well. At this stage, if you find the pesto is cooked, add a tablespoon of pasta water until you reach the desired consistency – smooth but not runny.Note: If you're throwing in some left over roast chicken, do so here 🙂
- Place the spinach in the pan and stir through until just wilted.
- Add in the nutritional yeast and pumpkin seeds and stir through.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Serve and top with extra nutritional yeast and pumpkin seeds.
