Spaghetti with spinach pesto and prawns

If pasta is already a dish that usually pleases everyone, when you prepare it with a mild pesto and pair it with prawns the result ends up being spectacular. It's a recipe from Virginia, from Sweet&Sour, which you'll have ready in a few minutes and without complications. Give it a try, you'll love it!

Pols Ceramic plates

Today's recipe is quick and delicious and, despite being pasta-based, it's light, so you can use it on one of those days when the heat makes an appearance, or to enjoy a typical autumn day.

These are spaghetti to which we have added a somewhat special pesto and milder than traditional Genovese basil pesto, since we prepare it basically with spinach and by adding it fresh, we take advantage of all the vitamins and minerals that we lose when cooking it.

To complete the recipe we have added some prawns that give not only a color contrast but the nutritional balance of protein. Vegans or vegetarians can substitute it with tofu, seitan or whichever option you prefer.

The pesto recipe is followed almost exactly from the book "Pasta Fresca" by the Simili Sisters, a benchmark when it comes to pasta, although I couldn't resist tweaking it a bit and added a handful of pine nuts.

You can use this pesto with dried pasta, with fresh pasta you make at home, or even with gnocchi, because it's very versatile. It keeps for a while stored in an airtight jar and covered with a layer of oil.

Let's get to the recipe!

Ingredients (For 4 servings)

• 300gr spaghetti
• 3 liters of water
• 12 cooked prawns
• 100gr tender spinach leaves, cleaned and preferably dried in a salad spinner
• 50gr Trioliva oil
• 15gr fresh basil leaves
• 35gr grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese*
• 25gr Pecorino cheese*
• 25gr pine nuts toasted in a pan and cooled
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 1 small garlic clove
• salt and pepper
• Pasta cooking water

*Pecorino cheese is a bit sharper than Parmigiano, but if you can't find it add only the latter. The cheese should be grated; you can use the best grater, the Microplane Zester.

Cocotte "Le creuset", Triana glass and Pols Ceramic plates

Preparation

1. Place the spinach, garlic (without the germ), parsley, basil and the toasted pine nuts into the food processor and blend. This step can also be done traditionally with a mortar, but it will take more time.
2. Next add the Trilloliva oil, salt and pepper and blend until creamy.
3. Transfer to a bowl and add the cheeses. Mix well to obtain a creamy paste.
4. With the pesto ready, boil the casserole "Le creuset", the pasta in abundant salted water, for the time indicated by the manufacturer to leave it al dente.
5. Once the pasta is ready pour it onto a hot serving dish; in my case I used the Emile Henry ceramic oven tray, and add the reserved pesto. If needed, loosen the pasta with a bit of the pasta cooking water, which you should not have discarded.
6. Add the cooked and peeled prawns and serve on hot plates, in my case, this beauty from Pols Ceramic, which with that rustic but elegant touch are ideal. Serve with a bowl of extra freshly grated cheese.

Pols Ceramic plates, Microplane Zester, Pasta Fresca by the Simili Sisters, Trilloliva oil and Emile Henry ceramic tray

A light pasta dish full of flavor and color, which you'll prepare in the blink of an eye.

Enjoy.

Virginia