What are your go-to home office lunches? I need them to be quick, easy and healthy – something to look forward to. This vibrant green pesto dish is fresh, spicy and incredibly delicious. It will be on your plate in under 15 minutes and can easily be stored in the fridge for a few days if you like batch cooking.
Honestly, I feel like all I do during lockdown is washing dishes. You know how much I love cooking from scratch, which is why pans and plates add up the moment I start preparing my porridge for breakfast, continue over lunch and of course have a big finale after dinner. However, I noticed the difference that homemade, wholesome food makes to my mood and my general wellbeing. Getting enough fruit & veg into your body is super important and with a variety of lovely recipes it is not such a big effort either. So I guess I’ll be doing the dishes for a bit longer, let’s not give up now. I hope this recipe gives you some inspiration for your home cooking, I would love to hear your feedback.
Pesto
1 big clove of garlic
1 tbsp of cashew nuts
1 tbsp of almonds
a big handful of fresh spinach
2 tbsp olive oil
50ml water
1 red chilli
salt + pepper
Other stuff
300g spaghetti
1 onion
1 red chilli
3 tomatoes
olive oil
a big handful of rocket
300g king prawns, frozen
veg stock powder
Serves 2
- Fill a big saucepan with water and bring to the boil.
- Put all the pesto ingredients into a strong blender (I use a NutriBullet) and blend until very smooth. Set aside.
- Rinse the king prawns under some hot water and leave to defrost.
- Finely dice the onion and slice the chilli. Roughly chop the tomatoes.
- Heat some olive oil in a large frying pan and add the onion and chilli. Slightly turn back the heat and stir fry. After about 3 minutes, add the tomatoes and constantly stir until they start to break down. Season with some veg stock powder.
- By now, your pasta water should be boiling. Add some salt before putting in the spaghetti. Keep an eye on them and stir every now and then.
- Add the thawed king prawns to the frying pan and cook until they are pink on all sides.
- Throw in the rocket and leave to wilt, then pour in the pesto and combine well. Leave to bubble on a high heat for a couple of minutes until the sauce gets quite thick.
- Add a dash of water if needed and season to taste.
- Drain the spaghetti and toss through the sauce. Enjoy!
Optional:
King prawns are not on your menu? To be honest, the homemade pesto is the star of the show, the king prawns can be left out easily and just like this, the dish turns vegan. If you miss the addition of protein, add about 120g of smoked tofu in cubes.
Are you a lemon lover? Yes, me too! It suits the dish well, but be careful and do not add too much from the beginning, otherwise it will overpower all the other flavours. In case you are serving guests, arrange a lemon wedge on each plate, so everyone can drizzle on some freshness if needed.
Not a fan of buying the usually super huge packets of fresh spinach? No problem at all to work with frozen spinach, but check if your blender can handle frozen chunks. If you prefer rocket or kale over spinach, by all means replace the spinach by either of the two.
