15-minute avocado pasta

Working with The University of Sheffield

Season: Winter

It’s avocado season – a real highlight of February. If you’ve been cruising around the Fruit & Veg box extra options on this site, you’ll know you can order a 500g portion of gorgeous organic avocados sustainably grown in Europe. I cannot resist them most weeks.

At home, most of the avocados are destined for toast with egg. But this week I’m hankering for pasta. This quick and simple recipe is from Oh She Glows.

Also saw that Nadiya Hussain has a tempting avocado pasta recipe with green peas, fresh mint and chilli – yum!

Ingredients

250g uncooked pasta

1 medium garlic clove

1/4 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves (plus more for serving)

1 to 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice, to taste

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more if needed

1 ripe medium-large avocado, pitted

1 tablespoon water

1/4 to 1/2 tsp fine sea salt, to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Lemon zest, for serving

Method

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta.

While the pasta cooks, make the sauce: in a food processor, combine the garlic and basil and pulse to mince.

Add the lemon juice, oil, avocado, and 1 tbsp water and process until smooth, stopping to scrape down the bowl as needed. If the sauce is too thick, add a bit more oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Drain the pasta and put it back in the pot. Add all of the avocado sauce and stir until combined. You can gently rewarm the pasta if it has cooled slightly, or simply serve it at room temperature.

Top with pepper, lemon zest, and fresh basil leaves, if desired.