Entrees
Cranberry, basil and parmesan pasta
Serves 4
In this dish you can use fresh or dry pasta. I love the flavour and texture of wholemeal spelt pasta, which has the added bonus of less gluten and more fibre than plain white durum wheat pasta. Combining cranberries with lemon zest is a triumph of flavours in this simple dish that can be whipped together in a matter of minutes.
| 500g | spelt linguini |
| 4 | garlic cloves, slivered |
| 2 tablespoons | olive oil |
| 3 tsp | lemon zest |
| 3 cups | basil leaves, roughly shredded |
| 30g | cranberries, chopped |
| 30g | pine nuts, roasted |
| ½ cup | Parmesan, grated |
| Sea salt | |
| Cracked black pepper |
- Fill a large pan with boiling salted water and bring it to the boil. Add the pasta to cook for about 8 minutes or until it is al dente.
- In a small pan heat the olive oil until it is hot but not smoking. Add the garlic slivers and cook until they are crisp and golden. Remove the garlic and olive oil from the pan and set aside.
- When the pasta is cooked, drain the water leaving about a third of a cup of the water in the bottom of the pan. Place the pasta back in the pan and while it is still hot, toss through the garlic, lemon zest, basil leaves, cranberries, pine nuts and a splash more olive oil through the pasta. Season with sea salt and black pepper and serve with the grated Parmesan.
