I was in the middle of a project this evening when dinner rolled around, and I’m afraid it blew right past me. At 9:30 p.m., I realized I hadn’t eaten, and food was in order, but my fridge was despairingly bare! So, I biked to the nearest grocery store, picked up a few things, and at 10:00 p.m., dinner was under way. I made it so fast that I thought it deserved an equally-fast blog post! Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you: The Green Blur.
Ingredients:
- your favourite kind of pasta (tonight, it was small shell pasta)
- Brussels sprouts (as much as you like – I went heavy on them with about 1 dozen per serving)
- pesto (such as “Basic Pesto”, from Mark Bittman’s superb How to Cook Everything)
Method:
1. Prepare the pesto, if necessary. For me, this consisted of blending about 2 cups loosely-packed basil with a couple tablespoons of pine nuts, as much garlic as you like, and about half a cup of really nice olive oil until it was all green and creamy.
2. Hopefully you’ve read ahead and now your pasta water is boiling. If not, you’ll just have to try harder next time! Boil as much water as you need for both the pasta and the sprouts. Once it’s boiling, salt it and toss the pasta & sprouts in. Some pastas take longer to cook than others; if you have a sense of how long both the sprouts will take (about 7 – 10 minutes) and the pasta (just about the same for me, tonight; YMMV) then feel free to add one before the other so that they finish at the same time.
3. Drain the pasta/sprouts mixture, reserving some of the pasta water. Dish it up, throw on some pesto, thinning it a little with the reserved water if you need to, grate some fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese on top, do a couple grinds of sea salt to taste, and
4. Enjoy!
I somehow managed to snap a photo of this before it vanished from my plate. Quick to make, and quick to eat, with heaping portions of deliciousness and nutrition – this one’s a keeper!
