It’s Meat Free Monday!  If you haven’t heard of Meat Free Monday (or Meatless Monday), it’s an international campaign designed to help people rethink the way they eat.  Meat can have its place in the diet but most Australians consume too much which is associated with health risks such as some cancers.  In addition, most Australians also don’t consume enough vegetables which limits the health benefits of this fabulous food group.  If you fancy more information on Meat Free Monday, check out this page from Foodwise.

We’ve all seen roasted vegetables with pasta.  I’ve even posted a recipe myself because it’s the perfect combination of tasty and healthy.  Time to introduce a twist on vegetarian pasta.  Roasted baby beets with zucchini pasta, sprinkled with feta and pecorino cheese.  Simple and delicious with 3.5 serves of vegetables per serve!  Roasting baby beetroot however is time consuming and if you’re like me, unavoidably messy.  Therefore I think it’s a good idea to roast a few more than you need and then you can use them in various dishes in the coming days such as salads, sandwiches and perhaps even pureeing a little to accompany a piece of fish or meat.  Enjoy!

Roasted baby beets with pasta

Serves 2

Ingredients

150 grams pasta (I adore pappardelle pasta)

3 x medium zucchini, sliced lengthways with a peeler, then halved lengthways again (it then tends to be the same width as the pasta)

4 baby beetroot (about 250 grams but of course use more if you love beetroot)

olive oil

50 grams danish feta cheese, crumbled

25 grams pecorino cheese (or parmesan), finely grated

cracked pepper to serve

Steps

• Preheat oven to 180° (fan forced)
• Wash and trim beetroot
• In a small heavy based baking dish, add a splash of olive oil, add the beetroot and cover with foil
• Roast for approximately 45 minutes or until the skin can easily be peeled off
• When the beetroot is cooked, bring a large saucepan of water to the boil
• Add pasta and cook until your liking
• Whilst pasta is cooking, make sure zucchini and cheeses are prepared and then lastly prepare beetroot by peeling away skin and slicing into wedges
• When pasta is nearly done, add zucchini to saucepan, then drain after 30 seconds
• Simply serve zucchini and pasta mix, top with beetroot and cheeses
• Finish with a drizzle olive oil and cracked pepper

Per serve:

2246kJ, 19.6 g protein, 20.5 g fat (7.6 g saturated fat), 65 g carbs (12.1 g sugars), 462 mg sodium

If you’re in the mood for pasta, you may also like:

Zucchini pasta with tomato and basil

Easy peasy pasta with prawns

Aubergine tossed spaghetti with leftover ham and rocket

Roasted vegetable pasta with basil and pine nuts