This scrumptious, super easy and fast pesto pasta recipe that can be prepared and ready on the table in 15 minutes flat. The kids love this dish If I don’t give them too much of the “green stuff”. It’s also a good one for the lunch box, reheated or eaten cold as a pasta salad the next day – talk about versatile! Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
Pesto Pasta with Prosciutto & Rocket
Ingredients (Serves 4)
- Couple of handfuls of washed baby rocket (or baby spinach)
- 6 slices of prosciutto, roughly torn into matchbox size pieces
- 300 g (11 oz) of fusilli pasta (or any other short pasta)
- 1 punnet of cherry tomatoes halved
- 3 tbsp of store bought pesto sauce
- 2 tbsp of pine nuts
- Parmesan cheese to serve
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to the directions.
- Meanwhile, spray a large saucepan with oil spray and cook the pine nuts on medium heat, stirring often until they are lightly browned (about 5 minutes).
- Set aside and cook the prosciutto in the same pan with some more olive oil spray for 2-3 minutes until crisp.
- Drain the pasta when cooked and add to the pan with the prosciutto stir in the pesto sauce, rocket/spinach, pine nuts, cherry tomatoes and pine nuts until well combined.
- Serve with shaved parmesan cheese and season with salt to taste.
Cooking tips
- Prepare ahead tasks: Chop the prosciutto and cherry tomatoes in advance plus toast the pine nuts and keep in an air tight container
- Ask the delicatessen at your local supermarket to shred a piece of parmesan cheese for you. I find I use much less parmesan when it’s shredded which is much better on my wallet and on my waistline! Or, invest in a Microplane to shave parmesan youself.
- I usually buy a few extra slices of prosciutto as it is scrumptious added to many of your family meals. For example lightly fried then stirred through a side salad or we love to eat it fresh on its own (rolled up) as an appetizer for a pre-dinner treat
- Last time I made this dish I didn’t have spinach on hand so I chopped 2 handfuls of snow peas (sugar snap peas) in half and added it to boiling pasta water for the last 2 minutes of pasta cooking. I stirred it through in replacement of the spinach and it was delicious. It gave a nice soft crunch and lots of color to the dish. I personally prefer spinach or rocket however my husband loved the snow pea version … Guess we will have to take turns from now on : )
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