Thursday, March 12: Pasta with Pesto, Marscapone, and Veggies

This is a favorite easy dinner of ours, and a great way to doctor up a jar of store-bought pesto! Use whatever veggies you have — tonight we had zucchini and grape tomatoes, but spinach, kale, asparagus, peas, etc. would all be great (just be sure to add them at the appropriate time, e.g. sturdier veggies like asparagus in the beginning, delicate veggies like spinach or peas at the very end).

Heat a few TB of olive oil in a large saute pan or pot (big enough to eventually toss a pound of pasta in). Add your sturdier veggies (in this case 2 small chopped zucchini and a pint of halved grape tomatoes), and a pinch of salt — saute for around 5 minutes or until almost tender. While this is happening, get a pound of pasta cooking in a pot of salted water, and boil until al dente. Next add one container of pesto (I prefer refrigerated pestos; mine was 6.5 ounces) and 4 oz of marscapone to the veggies, and stir until combined and warmed through. If you’re using spinach or peas, add to the sauce about a minute or two before the pasta is done. When pasta is al dente, add it directly to the sauce with a few splashes of pasta water. Stir until pasta is coated, adding more pasta water as needed to thin the sauce and help coat. Finally, squeeze in the juice of half a lemon, reserving the other half to serve with each bowl (I love lemon!). Season with extra salt and pepper if needed.