This Simple Pasta in the Best Green Sauce is everything you want on a weeknight - fast, easy, packed with veggies, and all in one pot! What's not to love?! The flavors are bright and fresh and the texture is creamy and delightful. Adults and kids alike will love this one!
Bring a large pot of well salted water to a boil over high heat.
Prepare the zucchini by slicing off the top and bottom and discarding. Then, cut the zucchini in half lengthwise and then cut crosswise into cubes. Set aside.
When the water has come to a boil, add the diced zucchini, garlic clove, spinach and kale and cook for 1 minute.
Remove and place directly into a blender and set aside.
Add the pasta to the water and cook until al dente.
As the pasta is getting close to being done, remove 1 cup of pasta cooking water and set it aside.
To the blender with the zucchini, garlic and greens, add the basil, mint, frozen peas, parmesan lemon zest, and juice of half of the lemon, salt, pepper, and ¾ cup of the reserved pasta water. Blend on high speed until the sauce is bright green and a completely homogeneous color - there should be no flecks of green - it should just be solid green. If the sauce is too thick, you can thin it with the remaining pasta water.
Drain the pasta (do not rinse it!) and return it to the pot and then add the sauce straight from the blender.
Turn the heat on medium-low and stir the pasta around to coat well and let the sauce simmer and thicken a little.
Remove from the heat and transfer to a serving dish. Add a generous grating of parmesan and cracked black pepper. ENJOY!
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Notes
Cooking the spinach and kale for 1 minute helps to set the bright green color.
Cooking the garlic clove for 1 minute helps to make the raw flavor of garlic more subtle and less over-powering.
This recipe only calls for the juice of half a lemon. However, as lemons are different sizes and yield different amounts of juice, you may find that you want to add the second half of juice.
If you don't have a blender, you can use a food processor or immersion blender. You may not be able to get the color to be solidly green, but you should be able to get close.