Aubergine, courgette, walnut & chicken pesto spaghetti
A different way to serve spaghetti – enrobed in a creamy, smoky aubergine-and-walnut-based pesto sauce. This dish has echoes of Middle Eastern Baba Ghanoush and definitely has the delicious factor!
Servings: 2 -3
Ingredients
- 1 small aubergine eggplant, cut into smallish cubes
- 1 medium-sized courgette zucchini, also cut into smallish cubes
- 1/3 cup olive oil plus a little more for roasting
- 2.6 ounces walnuts
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
- about a handful of fresh herbs chopped (I used oregano & mint)
- 1/2-1 small garlic clove
- a couple of squeezes of lemon juice
- black pepper to taste
- spaghetti fresh or dried (I used about 3.5 ounces/100 grams per person dried)
- leftover roast chicken I used about 2.6 ounces/75 grams per person, but use as much or as little as you like - or have left!
- a little fresh chopped parsley and extra parmesan cheese to serve
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 390F/200C.
- Put the aubergine and courgette together on a baking tray, drizzle with a little olive oil and roast for 30 minutes or until the aubergine is nice and soft.
- Put a pan of water on to boil for the spaghetti, then cook according to the packet instructions.
- While the spaghetti is cooking, put the roasted aubergines and courgettes, walnuts, parmesan, herbs, garlic, lemon juice & pepper in a food processor and blitz until it forms a paste. Then, with the motor running, add the olive oil a little at a time until the paste has the consistency of a thick pesto sauce.
- Drain the pasta, reserving a little of the cooking water, then return it to the pan
- Stir the chicken and pesto sauce through the spaghetti (you may not wish to add all of the sauce, although I did!). Add a little of the reserved cooking water to make the sauce a little silkier. Heat through a little to make sure the chicken is well heated.
- Serve immediately sprinkled with the chopped parsley and extra parmesan.
Notes
You could happily leave the chicken out of this recipe (even though the chicken was the star of the show in my post!)
Please do experiment with using this pesto as a dip ... and then write and tell me what you thought!
Nutrition
Calories: 666kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 63g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 8mg | Sodium: 206mg | Potassium: 686mg | Fiber: 9g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 150IU | Vitamin C: 5.5mg | Calcium: 205mg | Iron: 1.9mg
