My partner and I were visiting the gorgeous Karin Broek in Yarra Junction, that’s in Victoria for all the city sleekers. Karin is my partner’s sister and whenever we visit she prepares a room for us and makes sure we are comfortable and super warm and cozy. During winter it’s freezing there, way down south.
Karin is very super sweet and she always make me feel at home. We stay up late talking and laughing. And I love cooking for her because she is super easy to cook for. When I ask her what she would like me to cook for dinner, she always says, “I’ll eat anything!” MUSIC TO MY EARS, because to me that translates into, “Nava, EXPERIMENT!” So I do. Off I go to the shops. Last time I went a little crazy with the portions. The outcome was FANTASTIC: a healthy and delicious super-green dish, packed with flavour and goodness.
Buon appetitio my friends
Ingredients
For 8-10 people
If you’re eating as a main and nothing else
If you want to make less just halve the quantities
Curly pasta ¾ packets
30g butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 brown onion, small-medium 110g
5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 large leeks (white part only) cut into circles
1 large zucchini 500g, cut into circles
10g chives (1 packet)
300g celery, stalk only, diced
400g spinach leaves
2 ½ tablespoons dried Marjoram leaves
2 ½ tablespoons parsley flakes
Salt and pepper to taste (be generous)
Handful of fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
½ a sleeve of basil, leaves only, finely chopped
150g grated parmesan cheese (1 ½ cups)
200g pesto
roasted pine nuts
Method
In a LARGE frying pan over medium heat, melt butter, sauté onions until translucent, add garlic and stir until fragrant (about a minute). Add leek with 2 tablespoon of olive oil and stir until almost soft.
Next, stir in diced celery, give it a good stir for about three minutes. Add zucchini and yep, stir to combine about 3-4 minutes.
Sprinkle dried herbs, salt and pepper to coat.
Add 2 handfuls of spinach leaves at a time, stir the first two handful until reduced in size before adding the next. Repeat until you have used up all the spinach.
Cook pasta with water. Once ready, drain and place pasta in a bowl, stir pesto into pasta along with basil and mint. Add the cooked vegetables and serve with parmesan cheese and pine nuts.