I don’t know about the rest of you, but I definitely hit a culinary slump this year, with lockdowns, quarantines and not-so-great events. Desperate to find a way to keep myself off Menulog, I reached for my cookbooks. One that I’ve had for ages and only sporadically used is 5 Ingredients by Jamie Oliver. All the recipes only use – you guessed it – five ingredients and feature lots of pretty healthy options. I decided this was the low hanging fruit I needed. One recipe has become my new favourite dinner dish and is here to save dinnertime.
Lemony zucchini pasta is here to save dinnertime
I fell in love with this dish because it’s super easy but still manages to hit the perfect note of light and comforting. With the help of my spiraliser, it takes almost no time to make and tastes delicious. It’s also a great way to get a solid hit of veggies in while still indulging in pasta.
If you’d like to add a little more plant matter, I’ve found lightly toasted pine nuts make a great garnish. Their sweet crunch balances the zesty lemon and fresh mint really well.
Here’s the recipe if you’d like to give it a go, courtesy of Jamie Oliver’s website:
Ingredients:
- 150 g spaghetti or linguine
- 2 mixed-colour zucchini (I haven’t been able to find two colour, so I just use the green ones)
- ½ a bunch of fresh mint (15g)
- 30 g Parmesan cheese
- 1 lemon
Directions:
- Cook the pasta in a pan of boiling salted water according to the packet instructions, then drain, reserving a mugful of cooking water.
- Meanwhile, slice the courgettes lengthways, then again into long matchsticks with good knife skills or using the julienne cutter on a mandolin (use the guard!).
- Place a large non-stick frying pan on a medium-high heat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, then add the courgettes.
- Cook for 4 minutes, tossing regularly, while you finely slice the mint leaves, then stir them into the pan.
- Toss the drained pasta into the courgette pan with a splash of reserved cooking water.
- Finely grate in most of the Parmesan and a little lemon zest, squeeze in all the juice, toss well, then taste and season to perfection with sea salt and black pepper.
- Dish up, finely grate over the remaining Parmesan and drizzle with 1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil before tucking in.
That’s it. If you want to add pine nuts, I usually drop them on a baking tray and pop them in the oven at 120C while I’m making the pasta, checking them every now and then and removing when they’re just starting to go golden.
5 Ingredients has a lot to offer
I’m still cooking through this book and really enjoying the simple, hearty recipes. There’s a great focus on vegetables and whole proteins, so it’s all pretty healthy. There’s a dessert section as well, which is not so healthy but nice when you want a sweet touch without a lot of effort.
