Working week meals: Easy & healthy spinach pesto
Like many of you when I get home in the evenings all I need is to relax and take it easy for a little while; then there is dinner... and let's be honest, I certainly don't fancy spending too long on the stove but I also don't want to eat something ready from the shops.
Most of the ready made pasta sauces I have tried will leave you with a funny metallic taste in your mouth and after a long day you need something nourishing. You certainly can't rely on corporations to feed you: they add too much salt and too much fat making your meals unhealthy. I guess it is fine for a day or two but not in the long run, eventually you might end up with high blood pressure or high cholesterol.
What we need is feel good food, food with good vibes and it is much easier to control what's in your food if you cook it yourself. In the coming weeks I will be sharing meals for the working week. Any feedback or suggestions from you would be welcome.
This vegetarian pasta sauce is very easy and ready in minutes. Just get a bag of spinach and steam them. You don't need a steamer. What I usually do is I wash the spinach and put them in a pan for a minute. Don't overcook them: the less you cook them the more they will retain their bright green colour so just a minute to change their texture will be enough. You can also not cook them at all and use raw spinach if you prefer.
Put them in a food processor with the garlic, parmesan cheese, almonds and olive oil and whiz. If you are allergic to nuts just leave them out.
You can swap the almonds with pinenuts if you prefer.
Add it to your pasta.. dinner couldn't be easier! 🙂
- Prep Time : 15 minutes
- Cook Time : 2 minutes
Ingredients
- fresh spinach leaves - 200 g - slightly less than a cup
- parmesan cheese grated - 30 g - 1/3 cup
- finely chopped almonds - 30 g - 1/4 cup
- finely chopped toasted almonds - 2 tbsp
- garlic clove - 1
- olive oil - 4 tbsp
- sea salt
Instructions
Wash the spinach and drain them in a colander.
Steam the spinach for a minute or two. Put them in a processor with the almonds, the cheese, the garlic clove, salt, olive oil and whizz to a smooth consistency.
Add more olive oil if you prefer a different/more runny consistency.
You can store your pesto in the fridge for a few days covered with olive oil and you can freeze it too.
Mix to your pasta and serve it with a sprinkle of roasted chopped almonds.
Deliciously healthy 🙂 A perfect light pasta dish for spring and summer.
(2 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)
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Homemade pasta sauce makes a HUGE difference!! Your spinach pesto looks fantastic, Alida.
Just a few basic quick recipes for the week and eating healthily is not that difficult even if you are short of time.
We eat lots of pestos around here, but I’ve never tried spinach. Perhaps that’s because I don’t care for raw spinach, so the idea of precooking the spinach ( a tad) works for me. We’ll be giving this a try.
One of our fast weeknight dinners is a cantaloupe with prosciutto salad and arugula pesto pasta. We’ll be looking forward to more of your weeknight recipes.
Your dinners sound delicious! I prefer Cantaloupe melon to the green variety. My grandmother used to grow them in her field and I remember they were so sweet. .a delicacy with prosciutto (my mouth is watering when I think of it!).
Dear Alida, with you all the way 🙂 🙂 This is efinitelly healthy and quick week dinner keeper ! Thank you !
Lovely idea Alida, it’s amazing how much fresh spinach you need to make a small amount of peso isn’t it!
I agree. A bag of spinach just reduces itself to a tiny amount after cooking!
ottima idea , così porti la primavera in tavola, buona settimana, un bacione !
Ottimo questo pesto di spinacini, brava!!!
I make this spinach pesto frequently and take the opportunity to use raw spinach in order to make the most of its vitamins. It is absolutely divine. Hope you are enjoying this lovely spring time. Grazie Alida.
The weather has turned wintry in the UK.. hoping to get some heat soon! Have a great summer time.
This pesto is so pretty! I expected you to include a little basil or parsley but you only used spinach. I can’t wait to try it!
You can add a few basil leaves if you wish. Enjoy it!
Your pasta looks delicious! I am going to make your recipe next week 🙂
Thanks for sharing, Alida!
Fab I hope you enjoy it Zaza.
Looks delicious. And what a lovely shade of green… I do want to experiment more with other kinds of pesto and this might be the ideal way to start.
An easy one, I do it every time I have leftover spinach in the fridge and pesto is good for light summer meals.
Really easy and yummy – substituted frozen spinach and basil and still turned out great!