Don’t you just love summer food! Through winter it seems to be all about slow roasting, reducing and simmering, but in summer all the best dishes seem to be a matter of finding some fantastic fresh ingredients (often just a matter of walking out to the veggie garden) and throwing them together into a tasty combo like this fusilli.
This dish works great hot or cold; as a light meal on its own, or paired with freshly caught salmon (see the hot-rock salmon recipe, October 2013) for a more substantial meal.
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Serves: Two
Weight: 1.1kg
Volume: 1l
Kilojoules: 8800
Cost: $12
Time: 20min
Ingredients
1tbsp olive oil
4tbsp (or one small pottle) basil pesto
4 medium sized courgettes, sliced lengthways
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
500g fusilli* (AKA ‘spirals’ or ‘twirly pasta’)
Salt and pepper
Method
Bring a medium pot of water to the boil, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain and set aside.
Heat the oil in a frying pan, then add the courgette slices. Fry until golden brown, remove and set aside. Add the pine nuts and fry lightly – don’t turn your back on them, they go from perfectly cooked to black in a matter of seconds!
Stir the pesto through the pasta, then add the fried courgette and pine nuts. Garnish with shaved parmesan and a little salt and pepper.