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Fresh pasta with nuts and health – Awesome!
Everyone seems to be developing a paranoia about eating pasta. Has our extreme overindulgence in wheat products caused many of the health problems associated with “gluten intolerance”? Is it the quality of our wheat? Is it over processed and “GMO”? Maybe it’s all true, or maybe we need to be a bit more balanced and smarter with our choices and frequencies about how and what we eat.
A Canadian Study found in the June 2011 ALIVE! Magazine, suggested that eating nuts, (specifically Pistachio) with pasta, helps to slow down the pasta’s conversion into sugar because the nuts digest at a slower pace due to their natural fat content.
In this recipe, you can use either brown rice pasta or a good quality under processed pasta like Organic Pasta Toscana. I also take advantage of fresh local Ontario Arugula. These ingredients are readily available in natural supermarkets like Nature’s Emporium in Newmarket or Maple.
Serves 4
500 g Pasta cooked according to directions
1 Lemon, juice and rind
1 clove fresh Ontario Garlic, minced
2 handful fresh Ontario Arugula, whole
2 handfuls of Raw Pistachios
Sharp Parmigiano Cheese
Some good quality Olive Oil
Method
This dish is called “Fresca” indicating it takes little time to prepare and shouldn’t sit. It is to be eaten fresh off the stove.
Wash Lemon and grate all the rind off and set aside. Cut Lemon in half.
Heat a little Olive Oil and some Garlic in a small pan and toast all the Pistachios until they’re a little brown. Set aside to cool. When they are cool, coarsely chop them.
In a large metal bowl that’s wide enough to sit on your pot of pasta, spoon out cooked pasta. Add some Olive Oil, juice of ½ Lemon, half the rind, some Parmigiano and 1 handful of Arugula and ½ the Pistachios. Put bowl on top of Pasta pot (which should still have the water in it) and mix well.
Spoon out into plates and top with remaining Arugula, Pistachios, Lemon Rind, squeeze of Lemon juice and Parmigiano.
Fresh Fast and deliciously light for the enjoying in the spring sunshine!
