Green spaghetti & meatballs
By Cassie Best
Contains pork – recipe is for non-Muslims/non-pork eaters.
Feed three adults or six kids with this spaghetti dinner that packs in two of your 5-a-day. Just the thing for children who are wary of greens
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Prep:15 mins
Cook:25 mins
- Serves 6
- Easy
Nutrition per serving
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kcal 720
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fat 27g
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saturates 8g
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carbs 59g
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sugars 5g
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fibre 13g
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protein 54g
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salt 0.7g
Ingredients
- 500g lean pork mince
- 1 apple, grated
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tbsp oil
- 250g-300g wholemeal spaghetti (for children, use white spaghetti as wholemeal can be too filling)
- 200g baby spinach, plus extra to serve
- 1 ripe avocado, stoned and peeled, plus extra to serve
- small bunch basil
- 100g frozen peas
- 25g parmesan, grated, plus extra to serve
Method
Mix the mince, apple and fennel seeds in a bowl. Divide and roll into 24 cherry tomato-sized balls. Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Cook the meatballs until golden brown and cooked through. Heat a large pan of water and cook the pasta following pack instructions.
Meanwhile, make the sauce. Set aside a handful of spinach, 4 tbsp peas and half the avocado for later. Pour hot water over the rest of the peas to defrost them, then drain well. Whizz the defrosted peas, spinach, avocado, basil and parmesan in a blender with 100ml pasta water, adding more if needed, to make sauce. Season well.
Add the reserved frozen peas to the pasta for the last min of cooking. Drain, saving some of the water, and tip the pasta into the meatball pan. Add the sauce and cook for a minute or 2 until hot, adding more seasoning or pasta water if you need to. Serve a salad of spinach and avocado on the side and top the pasta with extra parmesan for adults, if you like.
