Quick green pasta | Jamie Oliver recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is green pasta sauce made of? ›

Indulgent but healthy – The healthy green pasta sauce (made from blended spinach, cashews, garlic, nutritional yeast, and lemon juice) is the star of this dinner. Swap the pasta noodles for bean-based pasta or gluten-free pasta. Or serve over roasted potatoes or vegetables if you prefer.

Take 3 large handfuls of cavolo nero, cabbage or Swiss chard and strip the leaves off the stalks. Add 3 cloves of peeled garlic to a pan of salted water and bring to the boil, then add the cavolo. Cook until tender, then drain well in a colander and allow to cool.

Make The Green Sauce

In a blender or food processor, add the peppers, tomatillos, garlic, and chopped onion (add the cilantro as well if you are using it). Puree everything together. Add the reserved liquid if needed to get a saucier texture, a traditional green sala is usually chunky rather than watery.

Cornstarch: Make a slurry of half water, half cornstarch and whisk until smooth. Cornstarch is a powerful thickener, so start by whisking in no more than 1 tablespoon of the mixture per 2 cups of simmering sauce; stir and simmer for 2 minutes, check the thickness, and repeat with more slurry as needed.

Olive oil, shallot (Gigi uses red onion but mentions you can also use shallot. I've always used shallot when I've made vodka sauce. Yellow onion works fine too.), fresh garlic, tomato paste, vodka (Gigi actually leaves vodka out. A note on this below.), heavy whipping cream, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, and butter.

Cook your pasta to just before al dente.

Because pasta continues to cook after it's drained, remove it from the stovetop just before reaching the al dente stage. This is super important for thin pastas like angel hair and for pastas that will be baked with a sauce like lasagna.

Douse the cabbage in vinegar water, if desired.

Vinegar kills some types of bacteria and helps killing mold and mildew that could have grown on the cabbage.

Green is the heartiest variety; it takes well to all cooking methods. Red can turn a funny blue color when cooked, so it's best used raw. If you do want to cook it, add a touch of acid like lemon juice or vinegar to lessen the effect. Savoy can be used in any recipe that calls for green cabbage.

WHAT IS CAVOLO NERO? Cavolo nero, also known as Tuscan kale or black kale, is a brassica that's very similar to kale. It originates from Italy but is now grown in the UK. Its name, which means 'black cabbage' in Italian, alludes to its strikingly dark green colour.

Typically, red hot sauce is flavored with ripened red chilis and is typically a lot hotter than green. Red also typically has what many people describe as a more “earthy” taste, while green tends towards a “fresher” taste.

What is green spaghetti made of? ›

Mexican Green Spaghetti, or Espagueti Verde, is a pasta dish made with a creamy poblano sauce. The poblanos are roasted and deseeded, giving it a great roasted and slightly smokey flavor without the heat. The blend of Mexican crema and cream cheese adds creaminess, while the cilantro adds a hint of fresh herb flavor.

If you keep fresh pasta in the fridge for over 18 hours, the pasta will start to absorb water and become oxidised. A telltale sign of this is the pasta turning into a “greenish-grey” colour. This can easily be confused with the pasta going off.

Pesto, or pesto alla genovese, is a basil-based sauce that originated in Genoa, the capital of Liguria, Italy. Traditional pesto is made with basil leaves, garlic, pine nuts, olive oil, salt, and Parmesan (or another type of hard Italian cheese, such as Pecorino).