Wholewheat pasta with pesto, grilled zucchini .
The weeknight dish that comes together in 20 minutes while the water boils. Wholewheat pasta for staying power, grilled zucchini to wake up the pesto, toasted pine nuts for crunch. Simple, fragrant, filling.
Steps step-by-step
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Start the pasta water
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil (10 g of salt per litre). This is when you prep the zucchini.
Wholewheat pasta water takes 2-3 min longer than white pasta to come to a simmer. -
Prep the zucchini
Wash the zucchini, slice into 1 cm thick rounds. Finely mince the garlic clove. Shave a few thin ribbons with a peeler (for the raw topping).
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Toast the pine nuts
In a dry pan over medium heat, toast the pine nuts for 2 minutes, stirring. As soon as they turn golden, take them off the heat and set aside (they burn quickly after that).
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Grill the zucchini
In the same pan, heat 2 tbsp oil over high heat. Add the zucchini rounds in a single layer. Sear 3 min per side until golden. Add the minced garlic at the end (1 min). Salt, pepper.
If the pan is too small, do them in 2 batches: piling them up makes them steam instead of grill. -
Cook the pasta
Drop the pasta into the boiling water. Cook al dente per the package (often 9-11 min for wholewheat). Reserve 1 glass of cooking water before draining.
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Assemble and serve
Return the drained pasta to the pot off the heat. Add the pesto, the grilled zucchini and 2-3 tbsp of cooking water to loosen. Toss without cooking. Squeeze in the lemon juice, scatter pine nuts, parmesan, raw ribbons and chopped basil.
Nutrition values
Per serving · 520 kcal · Moderate GICompatible with
- Vegetarian diet · no meat, no fish
- Family · kids from 18 months, go easy on the pesto
- Kosher · kosher parmesan available
- Halal · use a halal parmesan (microbial rennet)
Substitutions possible
- Gluten allergy? Buckwheat, brown rice, or chickpea pasta.
- Tree nut allergy? Traditional pesto contains pine nuts + parmesan: make it with toasted sunflower seeds instead.
- Milk allergy? Skip the parmesan, or use nutritional yeast (1 tbsp).
- More protein? 150 g of cooked chickpeas or 2 hard-boiled eggs per portion.
- No zucchini? Grilled eggplant, asparagus, or steamed broccoli.
