Oh…my….gosh.

Alert the grocery store because there is going to be an avocado shortage in my town. Well, more than usual that is.

[And yes, I said ‘store’. As in singular…We’re small town folk.]

You can whip up this pasta dish in under 15 minutes flat! I know I will be making it again and again, especially for those dinners when we are strapped for time…or just plain old tired after a long day.

 

15 Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta

print this recipe!

Creamy, thick, and rich with lots of garlic flavour and a hint of lemon. This is my newest favourite pasta dish. The avocado works wonderfully in this recipe to create a sauce so creamy and thick, you will think there is cream hiding in there.

Inspired by My Recipe.org.

Yield: Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 medium sized ripe Avocado, pitted
• 1/2 lemon, juiced + lemon zest to garnish
• 1-3 garlic cloves, to taste (I used 3 and it was super garlicky, but if you are not a big fan of garlic use 1 clove)
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
• ~1/4 cup Fresh Basil, (probably optional)
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 servings/6 oz of your choice of pasta (I used 3oz of spelt and 3 oz of Kamut spaghetti)
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

 

Directions:

1. Bring several cups of water to a boil in a medium sized pot. Add in your pasta, reduce heat to medium, and cook until Al Dente, about 8-10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, make the sauce by placing the garlic cloves, lemon juice, and olive oil into a food processor. Process until smooth. Now add in the pitted avocado, basil, and salt. Process until smooth and creamy.

3. When pasta is done cooking, drain and rinse in a strainer and place pasta into a large bowl. Pour on sauce and toss until fully combined. Garnish with lemon zest and black pepper. Serve immediately. Makes 2 servings.

Please note: This dish does not reheat well due to the avocado in the sauce. Please serve immediately.

print this recipe

I used some fun pasta to increase the nutrition factor- first, 1 serving (3oz) of spelt pasta.

Spelt pasta has a great nutritional profile with 12 grams of protein and 3 grams of fibre per serving.

I also used one 3oz serving of Kamut pasta.

Kamut pasta has 13 grams of protein and 8 grams of fibre per serving. Niiiiice.

They both taste AMAZING and are very easy on the digestive system. I purchased both of them in the natural food section of Loblaws/Superstore. Regular white spaghetti has only 1.7 grams of fibre and 4 grams of protein per serving.  Eric and I actually prefer the nutty flavour of the ancient grains over the white pasta so it is an easy switch.

If you don’t have a scale or pasta measuring device, one serving of pasta (3oz) is about the diameter of a quarter!

PS- That picture above took me 6 tries to get in focus! lol

A couple of the out of focus ones…

Whoops!

Oh the joys of amateur photography. ;)

While the pasta is cooking away, prepare the ‘cream’ sauce in a food processor. I used 3 cloves of garlic and it was quite garlicky, so if you are not a big fan of garlic I would suggest using 1-2 cloves.

I love that avocado can be used as a substitute for cream in this recipe. The healthy fats in avocado make our skin glow and hair shine as an added bonus. :)

Strain and rinse the cooked pasta.

Add the sauce and mix well.

Garnish with lemon zest and freshly ground black pepper.

I fell in love.

So did Eric.

We are now married to this pasta.

And I’m actually going through withdrawal just looking at these pictures.

Looking for other pasta recipes that I enjoy? Try these recipes below:

* Tomato Basil Cream Pasta

* Lightened Up Sundried Tomato Pasta

 

In other news, it’s Monday and I woke up in a haze today. That is, until I watched this video below! It made my entire day, so I thought I would spread the joy. Animals are just the most fascinating and intelligent creatures and I’m always blown away by stories like this.

 

I can’t decide what I like more about the video:

1) It has a date of ‘1999’, but it is clearly circa 1980’s, 2) the old married couple that I want to adopt, 3) The crow scaring the cat (minute 3:44),  4) The cat scaring the crow (minute 5:00), 5) The crow squawking at the cat to ‘get off the road’ (minute 4:40), or 6) Is that ALAN THICKE from Growing Pains?!

It kills me, it really does.