As often happens I find myself cooking starting from an ingredient I absolutely need to use up… in this case a ripe avocado, and this is how this pasta with avocado and spinach pesto is born, enriched with roasted Pleurotus mushrooms, so delicious I can hardly describe it — one word: decadent!
This is already a fairly complete vegan dish on its own, but I would add a small side salad with a handful of legumes. I found it quite filling by itself and it’s really incredible that it costs only 10 Weight Watchers ProPoints!
This pasta is quick to make and the pesto can even be prepared in advance the day before and kept in the fridge. Then, ten minutes before sitting down to eat, cook the pasta and the mushrooms and put everything together! Let’s see how…
Other good and light pasta recipes:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Budget-friendly
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 4Servings
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Healthy
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 3 1/3 cups baby spinach
- 3.2 oz avocado (about one small avocado)
- 0.5 oz almonds (no need to peel)
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 lemon (juice only)
- to taste chili powder (optional)
- to taste salt
- to taste pepper
- 11 oz pasta (whole wheat preferred)
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil (about 2 measuring teaspoons)
- 14 oz oyster/king oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus)
- to taste pepper (optional)
- Total points = 40 WW points
- Points per serving = 10 WW points
Tools
- Tegame
- Impastatrice
- Friggitrice ad aria
Steps
For the pesto you can arm yourself with patience and use a mortar and pestle or, as I do (since I already use my patience to manage my ladies on a diet on Facebook :-D), you can use a blender. I recently got a Ninja processor that is really powerful but a bit noisy; since it blends quickly the noise is bearable.
In any case, simply put the raw, well-washed spinach in the blender, the avocado peeled and cut into pieces, the almonds, the peeled and sliced garlic, the juice of half a lemon, salt and pepper and a bit of chili if you like.
Blend everything for a few seconds so that there are still small pieces of almonds to chew — I prefer it that way.
For the mushrooms you can do it two ways. You can simply sauté the cleaned mushrooms, cut into not-too-small pieces, with the oil in a nonstick skillet. But if you have an air fryer you can also cut the mushrooms, brush them with oil and cook them at 356°F (180°C) for about 8–10 minutes directly in the basket: be sure to check occasionally so they don’t over-roast, every fryer has its own timing.
Once the pasta and mushrooms are cooked all you have to do is mix the pasta well with the pesto and then serve adding the mushrooms as a garnish. And our pasta with avocado and spinach pesto and mushrooms is ready!
If you have points available you can add slices of avocado with a bit of salt, pepper and lemon juice — delicious!
We really liked it at home and when I say we I mean it was even approved by my Dutch partner who tends to be very, very critical even though he is always very grateful that I cook, eh. He’s not that bad!
I look forward to knowing if you enjoyed it — let me know by commenting below or on Facebook; further down you’ll find the link to my group, the Mangia senza Pancia Club…
Enjoy!
by Giovanna Buono
Storage
You can prepare this pesto in advance and keep it in the fridge for 3 days or freeze it for 3-4 months.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
What can I add instead of mushrooms?
In summer, when mushrooms aren’t available, I make cherry tomatoes in the air fryer: I cut them in half and put them in the basket cut-side up on a piece of parchment paper, add a bit of salt, garlic powder and oregano and cook them at 356°F (180°C) for about 15 minutes. Like confit cherry tomatoes but without using oil: they come out great and are delicious added on top of this pasta dish!
