CONFESSION TIME: I am so not above store-bought pesto…for myself or for personal chef clients. There are many worthy fresh prepared brands in the refrigerated section of the grocery store.
I do like to doctor up store-bought pesto pastas up with roasted veggies like the red onion and zucchini here, then big flavor boosters like olives and shaved parm. Add some rinsed, canned cannellini or butter beans, or chickpeas, a few handfuls of arugula if you want and you have yourself a perfectly rounded meal. Dinner with less that 20 min of effort.
Ingredients
- 1 lb pasta of choice (my kids prefer short shapes)
- 1/2 c pesto of choice (I love Gotham Greens)
- 1 large red onion cut peeled and cut into 1 inch wedges
- Several medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced into 1/2-1 inch pieces
- 1/2 cup chopped olives of choice
- A bunch of parm shaved with a vegetable peeler
- Maldon salt
- Best quality evoo
- Optional: drained chickpeas, butter beans or cannellini beans AND/OR baby arugula or spinach
Method
- Roast veggies at 425 for ~30 min on parchment lined sheet trays tossed with evoo, salt and pepper, flipping halfway through until very well browned.
- Cook pasta until just cooked through in abundant heavily salted boiling water (no need for too al dente because it won’t be tossed with a hot sauce to continue cooking).
- Toss hot pasta with most of pesto. Taste and add more pesto and Maldon salt to taste.
- Add roasted veggies to pasta. Toss. Then add olives and parm and toss again. Taste and adjust with more pesto, Maldon salt and freshly cracked black pepper and a drizzle of great evoo. Enjoy straightaway or from the fridge for days.
Served 6-8ish
If you’d like to see a reel of me making this, just it out on Instagram.