Faster-than-your-fusilli beetroot pasta
We love a speedy pasta.
This recipe is one of the niftiest, most accessible recipes we know, and it has become a true ‘go-to’ recipe which we cook time and time again. But what defines a “speedy pasta” recipe..?
Well, the sauce must require very little or no cooking, and it must be ready within the 10-12 minutes it takes to cook the pasta... You simply plunge the pasta into boiling water… whip up, warm up or whizz up the sauce... and you’re eating in a matter of moments! Equally speedy is our broccoli & blue cheese pasta.
Vegcentric.
This vegcentric beetroot pasta lunch is the quickest recipe on our site so far. Working-from-home lunches getting you down?? Ear-mark this one.
We’d love to say that this recipe is so delicious it would convert even the most ardent beetroot nay-sayer… while it is every bit that delicious, it won’t. The flavour here is purely and unapologetically, beetroot: beetroot in all its sweet, earthy, nutty, velvety glory, and we can’t get enough of it. If you’re a beetroot fan too this one’s for you. It makes use of those convenient vac-pack packs of beetroot, and one full pack is perfect for this recipe for two.
Prep time: 2 minutes
Cooking time: 10-12 minutes
This recipe serves 2 people.
Ingredients:
Wholegrain or buckwheat pasta sufficient for 2
250 g cooked beetroot (1 vac-packed pack; not the pickled kind!)
½-1 red chilli, depending on heat preference
1 tsp flakey sea salt
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp cider vinegar (or 3 if red wine vinegar)
½ clove raw garlic, minced
4 tbsp pasta cooking water
2 large handfuls baby spinach
To serve:
Fresh dill
2 spring onions
Salt & pepper
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
¼ block feta, optional
Method:
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil over a high heat. Pop on the lid to speed things up. Once at a rolling boil turn the heat to medium, add your pasta, and simmer as per the packet instructions until cooked through. Drain the pasta, but reserve a few spoonfuls of the cooking liquid, then tip the pasta back into the saucepan.
While the pasta is cooking you’ve got time to make your sauce. Roughly chop the chilli and finely mince the garlic. Throw everything into a blender or nutribullet - with the exception of the spinach - and whizz on the highest setting until the sauce is as smooth as can be. If it needs an extra hand in the blender add a few more tablespoons of the pasta’s cooking water. If like a creamier sauce, a few tablespoons of creme fraiche this works very nicely.
Stir the baby spinach through the hot, drained pasta to encourage it to wilt, then pour over the sauce. Stir everything together well to coat evenly.
Top your generous bowl of pasta with plenty of freshly stripped dill fronds, lots of finely sliced spring onions, a twist of black pepper, and a hearty drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Crumbled feta is a lovely addition if you fancy it, but we love keeping this one on the simpler side.