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Above view of super green pasta sauce on mafaldine noodles in a serving bowl
Recipe

Super Green Pasta Sauce

Make a green pasta sauce with zucchini, spinach and fresh basil.

Recipe By: Madeline
Prep: 5 minutesCook: 15 minutesTotal: 20 minutes
Servings: 2 large or 4 small servings 1x

Ingredients

  • 8oz pasta of choice – I used mafaldine
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 1 shallot
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 zucchini
  • 4 large handfuls of spinach
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 cup basil leaves
  • 3/4 cup pasta water – reserved from cooked pasta
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese + more for topping
  • Zest from 1 lemon

Instructions

  1. Bring a pot of heavily salted water to a boil.Chop zucchini into cubes, slice shallot and garlic cloves into thin slices. When the water is boiling, place the pasta in the pot to boil.
  2. Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat and add the shallots and garlic to the pan. Suate until the garlic and shallot are soft and fragrant – about 3 minutes.
  3. Add the cubed zucchini to the pan and saute until soft about 4 minutes. Add the spinach to the pan and saute until it is just soft and wilted. Add the salt to the pan and toss again.
  4. Reserve 3/4 cup of the pasta water from the pot. Drain the pasta and set aside. Place warm sauteed veggies in a blender with the pasta water, basil, heavy cream and parmesan cheese.
  5. Blend until a smooth and creamy sauce remains. Toss the warm noodles in the warm creamy sauce. Serve with extra parmesan cheese and lemon zest.
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.