Quinoa pasta with courgette and pesto sauce

This quinoa pasta with courgette and pesto sauce is a true delight! All I could say for pages and pages could be one word only: Yummyyyy!!! Again, again, again!

This courgette and pesto pasta sauce has to be one of the best ever for me. It is my top two pasta sauce for sure.

Yet another dish that could be a repeat and it is truly delicious as well as super easy and quick to put together.

The quinoa pasta is a pretty new one and if you can not find it (I am sure you will though) you could use any healthier pasta.  I bought this in France last time where I have found two varieties, one red which is a tomato quinoa pasta and the other one is green and has parsley in it. They are super light and delicious.

Coming back to the pasta sauce, this is such a simple one and in terms of cheese, use your favourite melting cheese or you could do your own creamy Alfredo sauce mixing some fresh Parmesan, Romano, Mozzarella and Provolone cheese , some double creme or Philadelphia cheese. Don’t go for anything too flavoured or mature as it will overpower the taste of the other fine ingredients. Keep it all mild and beautiful.

I tell you what I normally do and use – plain mozzarella or occasionally Edam cheese only to cook with and with some Parmesan sprinkled over. Simple, looking great and tastes divine.

Lets get cooking, as I am salivating already. 😉

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Quinoa pasta with courgette and pesto sauce

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 300 g quinoa pasta
• 250 g chicken breast (cut into small strips) optional
• 2 courgettes (grated)
• 100 g kale (finely shredded) or cavolo nero
• 4 tbsp pesto sauce green
• 100 g cheese (grated)
• 2-3 cloves garlic (finely grated or chopped)
• 30 g Parmesan cheese (to sprinkle)
• 1 generous pinch pepper (freshly ground)
• 3-4 springs parsley (to garnish) or basil

Instructions

1. If you decide to put chicken in, start by placing a pan over medium heat and cook the chicken strips for about 5 minutes.
2. Add garlic, shredded cavolo nero or kale (or both 😉 ) and cook for 2 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, place a pot with water to boil over high heat. Depending on the pasta you are using the cooking time which will slightly differ. If you are using a standard, conventional pasta that will need cooking for longer than the soba or quinoa pasta which normally cooks in 5 min. So depending on the cooking time, start cooking the pasta in such a way that finishes pretty much at the same time with the sauce.
4. Add the grated courgette and pesto sauce to the chicken and cook for a further 2 min.
5. When the sauce is almost ready, add the grated cheese and mix well, allow the cheese to melt and remove from the heat.
6. Place the cooked pasta over the sauce or the other way around and serve.
7. Sprinkle some parmesan cheese and parsley and enjoy! Bon appetit!

Recipe Notes

There are other options of healthier pasta available, soo many varieties appeared lately that I have not cooked a plain standard pasta for over a couple of years now. I buy buckwheat, gluten free, quinoa, rye pasta and all these soba noodles which I absolutely adore and those come in so many flavours and types that is incredible! I love it!

However, if you do not feel so adventurous just go for a plain linguini and try and use the fresh one instead of the dry. I find it a lot tastier and I am sure you will toatally agree.