Beliisimo! Pasta recipes to make you weak at the knees

Writing | Ellen Hoggard

Sometimes, nothing beats a warming bowl of pasta. It’s cheap and cheerful, and you don’t need to be a Michelinstarred chef to whip up something mouth-watering. By dabbling in the world of seasonal vegetables, and mixing up your sauces, you can make a pasta recipe go a long way – cooking in bulk to feed you for a whole week, while also providing you with more than your five-a-day.

Nowadays, it’s a lot easier to accomodate for allergies, too. With pasta varieties in abundance, and many alternative dairy products now available, there’s nothing stopping us all from getting out the big pot and whipping up a bowl of delicious, but nutritious goodness.

1 onion

1 large carrot

1 courgette

1 red pepper

200g mushrooms

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp garlic

1 tsp dried mixed herbs

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 tbsp vegetable stock concentrate

400g can chopped tomatoes

400g spaghetti

40g parmesan, grated

• Slice the onion. In a pan, heat the oil and cook the onion until soft. Chop the carrot, courgette, pepper and mushrooms into small chunks and add to the pan. Sauté for 5 minutes.

• Add the garlic, dried herbs and mix. Add the tomato paste, vegetable stock and chopped tomatoes. Bring to boil, then simmer for 20 minutes.

• In a large pan of boiling water, add the spaghetti and boil for 10–12 mins.

• Drain the spaghetti and divide into 4 bowls. Add the vegetable bolognese with a sprinkling of cheese. Serve hot with an optional side salad.

25g basil

25g flat leaf parsley

1 tsp garlic

100g green olives

2 tbsp pine nuts, toasted

40g parmesan, grated

2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for brushing

230g asparagus, trimmed and halved

300g wholewheat spaghetti

Salt and pepper

• In a food processor, add the herbs, olives, pine nuts and parmesan. Combine until coarse. Add a glug of oil and combine until a smooth, green pesto. Set aside.

• Preheat a griddle pan, or the grill. Brush the asparagus with a little oil and cook for 10–12 minutes, turning regularly until tender.

• Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti in a large pan of boiling water for 10–12 minutes.

• Drain the spaghetti and return to the pan. Add the pesto and asparagus and stir. Serve in bowls with an extra sprinkling of parmesan and black pepper. Enjoy.

This is a great recipe to batch cook and store in the freezer for busy evenings. The large variety of vegetables offers a myriad of good bacteria, promoting healthy bacterial diversity in the gut.

The carrots and red peppers are loaded with vitamin C and A, benefitting the immune system and skin. These well-cooked vegetables will be easy to digest, while rich in fibre, which should help stable blood sugar levels. I would suggest opting for fresh vegetable stock instead of concentrate, to benefit from the added antioxidants, and enhance the nutrition-density of this recipe.

I love the use of fresh basil and parsley. Not only do they add flavour, but they also offer a myriad of nutritional qualities! Parsley is well-known for promoting bowel motility and decreasing bloating, while basil is highly regarded for its immune-enhancing properties.

The basil and pine nuts make a feisty immune-boosting combo, while the nuts also offer a dose of healthy fats for satiety, and minerals, such as magnesium (for sleep), zinc (for skin), and iron (for healthy red blood cells).

You could swap asparagus for a more seasonal vegetable, such as purple sprouting broccoli.