Nut Free Spinach Basil Pesto Pasta
A quick, vibrant n’ easy recipe and one of my favorites to cook with kids! It also falls under the bracket of ‘trust building dishes’ that I usually make in the beginning of the session with a new group or on the first day of a cooking camp. This pesto pasta checks ALL the boxes. Plus it’s nut free and can be packed for school lunches.
My trust building recipes have a short list of familiar ingredients that provide scope for sensory exploration, are nutritionally dense, and can be presented in a kid-friendly format. Once the kids have enjoyed making and eating a couple of such dishes early on in the program, they are more open to sampling new ingredients and excited about taste testing. They trust that we will make delicious food that also happens to be healthy. Enter the likes of beets, arugula, kale, jicama, romesco, sweet potatoes and butternut squash! :-)
Depending on how much time you have, you can have a meal ready with this pesto pasta and my easy peasy garlic bread in the amount of time it takes for your pasta to boil. Or you can spend a few more minutes having fun exploring the ingredients, tasting them separately and talking about how hungry you are!
When making this dish in class, we smell and taste everything. I haven’t come across a child who doesn’t like basil (even if pesto isn’t one of their favorite things). They keep taking in whiffs of basil and their fingers once they realize that the smell has transferred onto their hands.
Most will happily taste spinach. For those who aren’t crazy about these mild greens, I assure them that they will get all the nutrition from the spinach without really tasting it in the pesto. Yes, even though we are using twice the amount of spinach than basil in here. All I ask then is that I’m given a chance to prove my claim. They promise me a taste test (mission accomplished!!) and I promise them that they don’t have to eat it if they don’t like it.
Basil and baby spinach look quite similar. For an impromptu challenge, I’ll mix a few spinach and basil leaves and ask them to separate the two.
Using the reamer to juice lemons, grating the cheese and peeling the garlic are always sought after tasks. Show them how to hold the reamer and grate the cheese without scraping their knuckles.
The spinach gives the sauce the bulk it requires and the avocado replaces some of the oil and helps the sauce stick to the pasta.
My son calls this dish Green Power Pasta and would flex his muscles like Popeye after eating when he was younger. :-)
NUT FREE PESTO PASTA
(serves 4-6)
Ingredients:
For the pesto
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 large or one small avocado
4 cups packed baby spinach
2 cups packed basil
2 cloves garlic
1-1/2 tbsp lime juice
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, plus more for topping
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
One pack 16 oz pasta, any shape you like.
Handful of multicolored heirloom cherry tomatoes - optional
Preparation:
Prepare the ingredients: Wash the basil and spinach. Separate the basil leaves from the stem. Peel the garlic cloves. Half and stone the avocado and scoop out the flesh. Grate the Parmesan cheese. Juice the lime.
Place the olive oil, avocado flesh, garlic, lime juice, Parmesan, salt and pepper in the bowl of the food processor first. Then add spinach and basil leaves and process until smooth. If all the spinach and basil don’t fit at once, add whatever fits comfortably and pulse a couple of times before adding the rest in. Blend. Stop and scrape the sides with a spatula as required and blend again.
Taste and adjust the seasoning. I usually need to add a little more salt & lime juice at this point.
Cook a 16 oz pasta as per package instructions until al dente. Reserve one cup pasta water and drain the pasta. Return the pasta to the pot and add all the spinach pesto. Stir to combine. If the pesto seems dry, add reserved pasta water a little at a time until the sauce coats the pasta well.
Toss in halved cherry tomatoes if using. Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and a drizzle of olive oil.
Recipe Notes:
This is not a recipe to use up the wilting leaves that have been sitting in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator for a few days. Use the freshest ingredients you can find. Since the recipe uses such few ingredients and they are not being cooked, there is no scope to hide anything. Each ingredient will shine through.
Instead of buying shredded Parmesan or parm powder, I’d recommend you buy a block of cheese and grate it. It only takes an extra minute but makes a huge difference in flavor. Plus you avoid all the unnecessary anti-caking additives that are added to pre-shredded cheese.
Try a VARIATION of pesto by replacing all of the spinach with 2 packed cups of lacinato kale. Kids love the feel of tough dinosaur kale leaves.
The pesto also is great with grilled or roasted vegetables, or in a sandwich with sliced tomatoes, salt & crushed black pepper.
Get the kids cooking -
This recipe was made for kids to cook! They can do most of the work for the pesto. Start by involving them in the preparation of the ingredients.
Let them get familiar with the fresh and fragrant basil as they separate the leaves from the stems. This is when the kitchen starts smelling of pesto and the anticipation of the meal gets stronger.
Let them grate the Parmesan and juice the lemons.
Help them with measuring and adding everything to the bowl of the food processor. Make sure that they don’t touch the blade while trying to pack the basil and spinach in. They can also run the machine with an adult handling the scraping part.
Encourage them to taste test the pesto and ask for their opinion on adjusting the seasoning - Do you think it needs more salt? Would you like it a little more lemony? Should we add a little more cheese now or do you want some shredded on top of your pasta? - Let them call the shots and take ownership of the dish.
Don’t forget to thank them for the delicious meal! :-)
Did you know?
Spinach loses it’s nutritional value with each passing day. After the 8th day of it being picked, spinach loses half of its major nutrients when it’s refrigerated.
Continue the learning & family fun beyond the kitchen! Take a trip to Italy, the land of pasta. Enter your email to download these FREE games and activities for kids.
Did you make this recipe? Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and share a picture on instagram and tag it with the hashtag #nibblengobble.
