This is another new pasta recipe that I prepared last month after coming across it in a health magazine. When I first thought about pairing avocados with pasta I just couldn’t imagine it. I kept thinking about this pasta dish however, and when I considered the fact that we love both avocados and pasta, I reconsidered, and added this recipe to my weekly menu plan.
Everyone now knows that avocados are a very healthy fat, and fat accounts for around three quarters of the calorie count of an avocado. Most of this fat is monounsaturated fat, in the form of oleic acid. Monounsaturated fat is considered to be a “good fat” which reduces levels of bad cholesterol in your blood and lowers your risk of stroke and heart disease.
Here in Florida, we enjoy a variety of buttery avocados year round, although the pebbly skinned Hass variety are said to contain the most health benefits. We mash our avocados into a creamy consistency and spread it on bread in place of butter, and we also simply dice the avocado and use it in our salads, or to top soups and chilies as well.
In this unique pasta recipe, I used half the avocado to create a really cream sauce, and then diced the remainder of the avocado to toss into the completed pasta dish. Avocado has a very mellow flavor, so to give this pasta dish a great flavor, I included lemon juice, cracked black pepper, garlic, and some grated Pecorino Romano cheese.
To ensure the best results when making this dish, only use very ripe avocados. If the avocados you buy are not ripe enough, store them in a paper bag for a day or two to ripen.
This recipe works well with both long pasta such as spaghetti, or short pasta shapes such as penne, or rigatoni. I chose to use a whole wheat pasta from Benedetto Cavalieri called pennuce, which is basically simply mezza penne pasta. We really enjoyed this whole wheat pasta from Benedetto Cavalieri the first time I prepared it, so I decided to try it with this avocado sauce which turned out really well.
Buon Appetito!
Deborah Mele
Creamy Avocado Pasta
A unique pasta dish using creamy avocados as the sauce.
Ingredients
- 2 Medium Ripe Avocados
- 1 Lemon Juiced & Zested
- 2 Cloves Garlic, Peeled
- 1/4 Cup Olive Oil
- 1/4 Cup Fresh Parsley Leaves, Chopped
- Sea Salt & Cracked Black Pepper
- 12 Ounces Whole Wheat Pasta of Choice (See Notes Above)
To Serve:
- Grated Pecorino Romano Cheese
- Cracked Black Pepper
Instructions
- Put a large pot of salted water on to boil.
- Peel one of the avocados, and place this in a blender or food processor along with the garlic, oil, all but 2 teaspoons of lemon juice, half the lemon zest, salt and pepper.
- Pulse until the sauce is very smooth and creamy.
- Peel and dice the remaining avocado and toss with reserved 2 teaspoons of lemon juice to prevent browning.
- Cook the pasta in the water until it is “al dente”.
- Drain the pasta, reserving a small cup of the pasta water.
- Return the pasta to the pot and toss with the parsley leaves and avocado sauce.
- Add a few teaspoons of the reserved pasta water and toss well to ensure the pasta is well coated with the sauce.
- Toss the remaining diced avocado into the pasta, and serve in pasta bowls topped with reserved lemon zest, cracked black pepper, and a sprinkling of Pecorino Romano cheese.