Just call me Bev: Broad bean & pesto pasta

In theory I should have an amazing kitchen garden. It should be filled with veggies and herbs and different rare lettuces that I use in my cooking each day. But I don’t. It’s on my to do list, but we are not there yet. Same with chooks. One day. So when my Neighbour had a surplus of broad beans and delivered them to our kitchen door I had no idea what to do with them – I’ve never even cooked them before! So I did what any normal person does, I instagrammed the shit out of them, asked for help and was rewarded 24 fold with an amazing array of ideas and recipes. Gourmet Girlfriend said this was a winner so we had it for dinner last night. I’m now going to have to get some more as I have a million other ways I want to cook them now too!Broad bean & pesto pasta (serves two pigs)
: Basket full of broad beans (about 25 or so shells I guess)
: 200 grams pasta
: 1 red chilli
: Half pack toasted pine nuts
: Squeezed juice of half a lemon
: Generous amount of pecorino
: Salt & pepps

Home made pesto
: Bunch basil
: 2 garlic cloves
: Wedge of pecorino
: Half pack of pine nuts
: Salt & pepps
: Olive oil

: Pop the beans out of the pods and remark how much they look like the beans in Jack and the Beanstalk like any professional cook would do

: It’s come to this people. GLUTEN FREE PASTA. I’m trying to rule out gluten for a while and see if it makes a difference to my guts. So far it has, and this is terribly upsetting to me. I feel lighter, less bloated, less windy, less everything. I’m not sure how long it will last, if at all, but I’ll keep at it for a while.

: Blanche the beans in boiling water for about 3-4 minutes. You do this to soften them and take them out of another pod to get to the real deal inside. Who knew? Not me!
: To make the pesto rip the top off a bunch of basil. If you don’t have basil you can use continental parsley or rocket even
: Throw it into a food processor with a wedge of pecorino (or some kind of parmesan), half a pack of pine nuts, 2 whole cloves of garlic, salt & pepps

: Blitz it until it’s all chopped up (about 45 secs)

: slowly add in the olive oil until you get the consistency you are after. I usually add quite a bit as I prefer my pesto to be less chunky

: You can keep it in the fridge for a week or so (that’s all it lasts in my house)

: Back to the pasta! Pop your double shelled beans aside, Finely chop a red chilli and toast off the other half packet of pine nuts until golden brown and set aside

: Boil some spaghetti in a large pot of salted boiling water and make sure it’s al dente (I overcooked it like a silly thing)

: In a hot pan (no oil needed as there is more than enough in the pesto) throw in a good dollop of pesto, chilli, pine nuts and beans and toss quickly

: Toss the pasta into the hot pan and mix together

: Serve with lashings of pecorino and pepper

: Enjoy!

I found that the gluten free pasta broke apart when I was mixing it in the end which I’m not sure is common with that kind of pasta, or if I just cooked the shiz out of it? I’ll def cook for a less amount of time next time. This was delicious. And fresh. And two seriously big meat eaters enjoyed it every much!

Comments

  1. That looks delicious!! GG and Bev need to do some sort of cooking show.

    You know I’m with you on the gluten-free thing … but being the little piggy I am – yesterday I ate TWO sausages in white bread from Bunnings and then a whole homemade pizza… And I’m seriously feeling it today. I blame my hangover for the lack of self control…
    FUCKING GLUTEN!

  2. Ja, you’re bang on- slightly over cook that stuff and you get mush.
    My hubster refuses to eat it after I served up mashed GF pasta once.
    That looks so green and fresh and lurvely!!
    Just needs a big glass of wine.

  3. That looks amazing!

    Homemade pesto is amongst my favourite foods.
    We have two little basil plants and it is all I can do not to use them to make pesto…grow little plants, grow!

    Hope you have a lovely Sunday!

  4. Gluten free pasta takes a lot less time to cook than normal pasta, and does indeed fall apart when cooked too much. In fact it often breaks apart even when cooked al dente. This is because sadly it’s the gluten that makes it stick together!! Which is why everything gluten free has the same problem of always falling apart. This is fine for brownies, but not so good for bread.

    It also depends on what your gluten free pasta is made of – rice, corn, or any number of gluten free grains. Experiment with different types. The rice ones I find are much more inclined to fall apart than the ones with corn in them (rice of course being a bit healthier than corn! typical!).

    I’m not entirely gluten free, but pasta in particular is way better for the stomach when gluten free, and the ones you can buy in the supermarket now aren’t too bad. But the breads – I’d rather skip bread entirely and eat salad than eat gluten free bread ugh. And you know, you don’t really miss bread after a while…

  5. I’ve been GF for almost 3 years – HUGE difference to my health x

  6. I’m not a fan of broad beans but they look great. The San Remo GF pasta is great, but don’t over cook it!

  7. Looks wonderful and summery! Definitely will give it a go. Btw, I have found there is a very fine line between GF pasta being nearly cooked and then within seconds being overcooked and very soft and gluggy. I find taking it off the boil at the nearly cooked stage and finishing it off in the hot sauce helps immensely. I’ve also been through several brands of GF pasta to find the one that suits me – there’s alot of guess work sometimes 🙂

  8. Yum!!!! I have so many broad beans at the moment, I’m going to try this! Thanks 🙂

    http://www.twinsplusonemumma.com

  9. Try spelt pasta next time – it’s yummy and tastes just like wholemeal pasta. It’s not gluten free but it is gentler than wheat on your tummy. And nicer than GF pasta (I think).

    It also really depends on why you are doing it: gluten free pasta (or any pasta really) is still really high in carbs and might still be hard for your body to digest as an evening meal. Also, there is a lot of gluten in things that you don’t realise. Soy sauce, for example, has loads of gluten in it.

    K x

  10. This! Is totally going on the menu when my vego parents come to visit next month. Yum-a-rama.

  11. Beth, I’m wheat-free (due to a condition called colitis) and so have to eat GF pasta. There is a wide range out there and you definitely need to try a few different brands until you find the right one for you. If you slightly overcook it, it turns to mush and you simply can’t keep it for leftovers. Pooh! If, however, you are able to eat eggs (which I assume you can) but want to avoid gluten there is a brand that I really like (http://www.organicsonabudget.com.au/urbano-gluten-free-fusilli-pasta-500g/). It holds together really well. Unfortunately I can only get it in spirals and penne, but if you want spaghetti, you could try corn pasta.

  12. Looks yum! We are always eating pasta in our house – nice to see some different variations!

  13. That looks truly delish. I tried to gluten free thing for a while because, like you, all of my belly was unhappy all of the time. It did help a bit. And there are so many items out there and recipes. But at the same time sometimes all I wanted was a damn piece of cake. Good luck with it!

  14. Looks gorgeous. Someone should give you a book deal for your Just call me Bev recipes. I would buy it!

  15. Our main meal is always gluten free as hubby has Coeliac disease. I don’t mind eating gluten free pasta, but it took a bit of getting used to. Hope you’re feeling less bloaty soon, thank god there’s no gluten in Prosecco!

Trackbacks

  1. […] Vegetarian lasagne Chilli prawn linguine Tuna, olive & caper spaghetti Broad bean & pesto pasta […]

  2. […] LASAGNE TUNA, OLIVE & CAPER SPAGHETTI BROAD BEAN & PESTO PASTA GREEN PIG PASTA ZUCCHINI & RICOTTA […]

Leave a Reply to Reen Cancel reply

*