If you've been cooking a lot of pasta at home, you might've made your way through the recipes you know and be looking to expand your repertoire a little. This recipe is for a super easy and delicious spaghetti with courgette and spinach in a silky garlic and white wine sauce.
This spaghetti comes together in less than 20 minutes and is a real crowd-pleaser. It's comforting, yet healthy, creamy and a little tangy, fresh from the lemon and herbs, simply marvellous! Spaghetti is one of those things I never truly appreciated until I experienced it in Italy - once I knew how it was meant to taste I couldn't wait to get cooking with it. The Italian way is very al dente (with a bite), generously seasoned and a glossy, even layer of sauce coating each strand of spaghetti and there are a few tips below to achieve this...
The secret ingredient to a good pasta sauce is to use a little bit of the generously salty, starchy pasta cooking water, but you also have to know what to do with it. Once you add the pasta in (shy of al dente as it will carry on cooking), you add a little pasta water, a good glug of olive oil and stir vigorously - this allows an emulsion to form between the water and oil, forming a silky, slightly thickened sauce, whilst the pasta absorbs all the flavours of the dish and finishes cooking to perfectly al dente. Pasta should, if possible also be served straight away, for that al dente bite!
I love using fresh herbs in my pasta and I actually took the mint from my garden for this recipe - mint is one of those herbs that's a little too easy to grow - so planting in a pot is usually advised to stop it taking over the garden! I planted mine last year from a supermarket plant, these usually aren't grown to last or to be reused, however, mint is pretty hardy and it came back after the winter which was a pleasant surprise!
I used wholegrain pasta in this recipe, loaded with protein and fibre, wholegrains are a really important part of the diet, helping our digestive systems and also to stave off non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Spinach is a good source of vitamin A, as you might have read in my latest nutrition post, it's also incredibly rich in vitamin K, needed for blood clotting and contains a fair amount of iron too - needed for red blood cell production. Courgettes, or zucchini, as they're known around the world, have a good amount of vitamin C, as do lemons - which helps to boost iron absorption, as well as contributing to growth and repair of our tissues and supporting the immune system.
P.s. I just started a YouTube channel! I'll be starting to regularly upload and I would really appreciate it if you liked my first video below and subscribed here!
P.s. I just started a YouTube channel! I'll be starting to regularly upload and I would really appreciate it if you liked my first video below and subscribed here!
Courgette & Spinach Spaghetti | Serves: 4 | Time: 20 mins
You'll need
- Chopping board
- Knife
- Sauté pan
- Large saucepan
- Measuring cups + spoons
- Fine grater / zester
- Tongs
- Ladle
- Wooden spoon
Ingredients
- 200g wholegrain spaghetti
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 5 cloves garlic
- 2 courgettes
- 200ml vegan white wine
- 1 unwaxed lemon
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
- 1/2 tsp chili flakes
- 200g baby spinach
- Handful mint
- Handful parsley
- Salt
- Black pepper
Method
- Bring a large pan of generously salted water to the boil.
- Meanwhile, heat the sauté pan on a low-medium heat and once hot, add a splash of oil. Mince the garlic and add this to the oil and stir often to ensure it doesn't stick or burn. Slice the courgettes lengthways in half, then into 1-2cm thick half-moon slices and add to the pan with a good pinch of salt. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the spaghetti to the boiling water and cook for 6-7 minutes, until shy of al dente.
- Add the white wine and turn up the heat so it cooks off quickly.
- Once most, if not all of the liquid has evaporated, add the spinach, zest and juice of 1 lemon, yeast flakes and chili flakes and stir to combine, allowing the spinach to wilt.
- Then, using tongs add the spinach from the cooking water into the pan, along with approx. half a cup of the cooking liquid and a good glug of olive oil. Using the tongs, stir quite vigorously for 1-2 minutes, to allow the sauce to emulsify, thicken and coat the pasta. Add a little more cooking liquid if required during this process.
- Then chop the herbs and stir through. Taste for seasoning and add a little more salt if required and a good amount of black pepper.
- Serve up onto plates, drizzle with a little more olive oil, a pinch of chili flakes and enjoy!
Cassidy xx
