Green Veg Spaghetti

This is a lovely spring/summer dish but as it uses the best of the frozen aisle you can enjoy it all year round! I've said it before (and I'm sure I'll say it again!) but frozen vegetables are frozen very soon after they are picked, the nutrients are 'frozen in' during this process, meaning you can quite easily have more vitamins in a frozen vegetable than in its 'fresh' counterpart.

In terms of flavours, I've kept it light and fragrant with lemon and mint but with a little kick from a little sprinkling of chilli flakes (though you can leave these out). The 'sauce', if I can call it that, is just blended peas, ricotta and Parmesan mixed together with some softened leeks. Essentially, this dish is incredibly simple and incredibly delicious, what's not to love!

Green Veg Spaghetti

Serves 2

oil

125g frozen peas 
50g frozen edamame/broad beans

1 small leek, finely sliced 

1 tsp dried chilli flakes (optional)

75g ricotta 

20g Parmesan (or veggie alternative), grated

1 lemon, zested and juiced 

150g spaghetti

a small bunch of fresh mint, shredded

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Put the peas and edamame beans into a bowl and pour over a kettle of boiling water. Leave for 1 minute, drain, and pod the edamame/broad beans. Take about ¾ of the peas and blend in a food processor or with a hand blender with 1 tbsp of water until smooth. 

Heat about 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan and fry the leek with some seasoning for 8-10 minutes until soft. Stir in the chilli flakes, broad beans and remaining peas, and fry for 2 minutes. Cool slightly and put into a bowl with the pea purée, ricotta, parmesan, lemon zest and juice and some seasoning, and mix well. 

Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti is very salty boiling water for 6 minutes. Drain, reserving some of the cooking water. 

Tip the pasta back into the pan and add the pea and leek mix, and a splash of the cooking water. Mix well over a medium heat until everything is well incorporated and the sauce is clinging to the pasta. Stir through most of the mint then divide the spaghetti between bowl. Serve with the rest of the mint scattered over and topped with more parmesan, if you like.