This dish is all about springtime with its bright green pesto and fresh sauteed spinach. Pesto sauce – packed with basil, garlic and olive oil – is a welcome change from the heartier red pasta sauces you’ve likely been eating through the colder months (yeah, the snow is finally gone!).
And whipping up a little pesto pasta makes for an easy family meal. Give the tomato-based sauces a rest and go green!
While you can make pesto sauce on your own, I found a store-bought version that I like at an Italian grocery store in my neighborhood. Most grocers do carry at least one – if not several – choices.
I’ve included ingredient amounts in the recipe. What’s nice about this recipe is you can use leftovers and feel free to improvise. I cooked my pasta the same day I made the recipe, but you can use leftover pasta and even toss in other veggies and meats you might have on-hand in the fridge (like grilled chicken strips, diced ham, steamed broccoli).
What I did when I made this recipe is prepare it as I would a stir-fry – I had all the ingredients ready and then quickly tossed them together in the pan. My oldest daughter and I like a lot of spinach, but I knew my younger two kids would only want a bit. So I did one round of the dish with heaping scoops of spinach, placed it in two bowls, then did another batch with just a bit for my younger two (hey, you don’t even have to rinse the pan between!). I also had some steamed asparagus I threw into the mix.
So enjoy the green outside by eating a bit more inside with this yummy dish.
