Hi everyone! I’m sorry I have been missing in action for the past couple of weeks; I’ve been having a rather busy and full on time! Over Christmas I was away, and then I went off to Fiji for a week where I had no Internet access! It was actually pure bliss being able to fully relax without the everyday world getting in the way and distracting me from my time there, but it did mean that I was unable to post!
The following week I spent my time frantically packing up my life, because I have some exciting news: I have just moved to Melbourne! After 23 years of being a Brisbane girl (I was born in Sydney), I have made the big move to Melbourne for work. This has made for a rather stressful couple of weeks, I can tell you that for free! But the advantage is that I am now in the city of food and wine, and I feel like this kind of atmosphere can only do good things for my passion for cooking, although perhaps not for my waistline!
So I will start the New Year off by firstly apologising profusely for not posting sooner, I promise I had a good reason! And now that I am in the process of getting settled into my new city, I finally feel like I can get back to my writing! I am so excited for what 2016 will bring for Ella Eats, and I can’t wait to get stuck into it!
The only issue is that this week I am staying in temporary accommodation while I try and find a place. Advantage: even though I am still going to work, I feel like I am on a holiday. Disadvantage: I have the most basic of basic utensils and tools for cooking my own meals. In the interest of saving money and starting the working year off healthy, I decided that I couldn’t really eat out every meal, and that I needed to cook. However, this has proved a little difficult given how small my tiny bar fridge is, the lack of an oven, and the basic cooking utensils I have. But never fear, for it has allowed me to improvise, and put my cooking skills that I have learnt over the past year to the test!
My best friend lives down in Melbourne already, and she is beyond ecstatic that I have moved down to live in the same city as her after three years. So she has been lovely enough to offer to cook for me. As much as I have been making it work with my little kitchen, it is sure nice to have a delicious meal from a normal sized kitchen! When she made me pesto pasta, I absolutely had to get the recipe to share with you all!
Normally I’m not a huge fan of pesto pasta, because at restaurants it usually has cream in it. But this recipe uses simple, fresh ingredients and packs a lot of flavour! I love a good vegetarian pasta recipe because I never feel too heavy after it, particularly when it is a simple oil based sauce!
The best thing about this recipe is that it is so simple to make, and quick! This is the perfect weeknight meal, and its nice and healthy for the New Year. It also means that once you’ve made the pesto up, you’ll have some left over for lunches and breakfasts – whatever you want to put the pesto on! There sure is nothing like a healthy vegetarian meal that leaves you full for the evening, and when it only takes about 30 minutes before you’re eating it, the dish is one I’m going to keep in my repertoire for any later nights at work.
- 1/3 cup of basil
- 1 and ½ cups of rocket
- 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil for the pesto plus 1 tablespoon for the sauce
- ¼ cup of Pine Nuts
- A Pinch of Salt
- 2 Cloves of Garlic
- 1 Can of Berlotti beans strained and rinsed
- 1 and 1/5 cups of Penne pasta or two servings of the pasta of your choice
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Put some water on to boil in a large saucepan, adding some olive oil to stop the pasta from sticking. Once the water has reached a rolling boil, add the pasta.
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In a small food processor, add your basil, 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the rocket (if your food processor is really small, it would be worth mixing the basil and olive oil before adding in the rocket) and blend until completely combined.
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Add in the Pine Nuts and a pinch of salt and blend until all ingredients are completely combined
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In a frypan on a medium heat, add the remaining olive oil and heat until sizzling. Add the strained and rinsed Berlotti beans and 3-4 tablespoons of the pesto, stirring to combine. Cook on a medium heat, stirring occasionally for about 4 minutes.
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Meanwhile, dice the garlic, adding to the sauce once it is starting to bubble. Cooking for another 4-5 minutes, and turn off the heat.
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Strain the pasta once cooked, and separate into two serving bowls. Spoon the pesto over the top, and serve with a little pepper and some Parmesan.
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The remaining pesto can be placed in an airtight jar in the fridge for use on other dishes.
And that’s really all there is to it, I told you it was simple! And it was certainly a delicious dish. Much better than anything I came up with in my apartment kitchen where it takes about 10 minutes to heat up a fry pan!
This dish tasted like delicious comfort food, but the pesto itself was actually quite healthy. And the best thing about this recipe is that you can use the pesto on other things. Tash will put it on eggs in the morning, or suggested cooking chicken with it in the oven. I think I’ll need to give the latter a go for sure!
This is the perfect recipe for those who are time poor and need a simple dinner. It is ready so quickly, is so easy to make, and doesn’t require too many additional ingredients. I will most certainly be keeping this in my repertoire for when I have a full kitchen again!
I’d be interested to know, what does everyone else do for quick meals? Do you move to recipes with simple ingredients, or do you just head for the cheese on toast? I’d love to know what ideas are out there; as I think I will need to get on this quick food bandwagon myself!
Until next time, happy eating!
Ella xx
