Veganuary Month with Zerlina Mastin

Lunch – Green Pasta

Serves 2

200g wholegrain Fuseli pasta, 4 large broccoli spears, 100g fresh spinach leaves (or frozen spinach), 4 cloves of garlic, olive oil for cooking, ½ vegetable stock cube, a few generous tablespoons of walnut ‘parmesan’ (see recipe below).

Note: walnut ‘Parmesan’ does not just add taste! Walnuts are a very good source of protein, healthy fats and several dietary minerals including iron, calcium and zinc. Wholegrain pasta also offers a good source of plant protein.

To make the pasta:

Chop the garlic finely and fry in a little oil until lightly browned
Chop the broccoli into very small pieces and add to the garlic
Add the fresh spinach leaves, and continue to stir for approximately 10 mins.
Add a few tablespoons of water (if required) and mix in the vegetable stock cube.
Add the wholegrain pasta to a pot of boiling water and follow the cooking instructions on the packet (approximately 10-12 minutes boiling time).
Once cooked, drain and add to the vegetable sauce. Stir in evenly.
Serve and sprinkle the walnut Parmesan over the pasta.

Ingredients and method for walnut parmesan

1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped, 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast flakes, pinch of salt to taste

In a small bowl, mix the walnuts, nutritional yeast, and salt together.
Lightly blend the mixture for 8-10 seconds.
Sprinkle over the pasta dish

Note: The walnut Parmesan can be kept in the fridge for about a week when placed in a covered container. Cashews or almonds can also be used instead of walnuts.

The next Recipe blog by Zerlina's will be released on Monday 29th January 2018.