Vegetarian mains
Pink beetroot pasta
This beetroot and feta pasta probably caught your eye because of its beautiful pink colour, but the flavour is equally surprising. The earthy-sweet taste of the beetroot becomes mild when mixed with the rest of the ingredients, making it a good recipe for those who don’t love the taste but want to have all the nutritional benefits; we even encourage you to add the beetroot leaves if available. The pasta is topped with a walnut and oregano paste, but you can make a quicker version by adding chopped nuts and herbs at the end, or just serve the pasta as it is.
Cook's notes
Beetroot takes a while to boil, so if you have more than you need for this recipe, take the opportunity to cook all of them at once. Use what you need for this recipe and save the rest to be added to salads, blitzed into hummus, roasted, or even double the sauce recipe and freeze a portion. You can use precooked beetroot too.
Ingredients
- 350g beetroot
- 10g fresh oregano or basil, leaves stripped from stalk
- 30g walnuts
- 200g pasta of choice
- 100g feta cheese, plus more for garnish
- 50g sundried tomatoes (optional)
- zest & juice of 1 lemon
- olive oil
- salt & pepper
Method
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Step 1
Rinse the beetroots under water and scrub them to remove any dirt. Cut away and save the green leaves (if you have them) leaving 2-3 cm of the stalk attached to the beetroot, to help keep the beetroot from leaching juices during cooking. Put the beetroots in a saucepan and cover with boiling water and 1 teaspoon of salt. Boil until tender; small beetroot will cook quicker than larger ones (don’t be tempted to peel or cut them up to speed up cooking time – they will lose flavour).
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Step 2
Meanwhile, make the walnut and oregano topping. Start by lightly toasting the walnuts in a dry frying pan. Now add the oregano leaves to a pestle and mortar, sprinkle with salt, and grind until it becomes a paste. Add the walnuts in small batches and continue to grind the mixture, slowly adding 2 tablespoons of olive oil to combine all the ingredients. Add black pepper, taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Keep aside for later.
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Step 3
Drain the beetroots. Allow to cool until you can comfortably handle them.
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Step 4
To prevent staining your hands while peeling, hold a sheet of kitchen paper with a cooked beetroot inside and pull back the skin to remove it.
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Step 5
Cook the pasta al dente according to the package instructions.
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Step 6
Meanwhile make the sauce by putting the beetroot and feta into a blender with the sundried tomatoes (if using), lemon zest and juice, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and salt and pepper. Blend until smooth, adding water if needed to achieve the desired consistency. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
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Step 7
Drain the pasta and place it back into the pan. If using beetroot leaves, wash, chop and add them to the pasta. Pour in the beetroot sauce and mix through.
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Step 8
Divide between 2 bowls and finish with a little crumbled feta and spoon the walnut and oregano paste on top.