Beetroot and feta pasta with walnuts and dill

Beetroot and feta pasta with dill and walnuts

I’m a big fan of beetroot, but I often wonder what to do with it other than put it in salads, particularly as in most UK supermarkets you can only get the pre-cooked kind. I stumbled across this recipe by Nadiya Hussain and was immediately drawn to it by it’s striking appearance and inventive use of beetroot. Pasta can look so boring sometimes, but this is anything but.

This is not an exact copy of the original recipe so please check out the link above if you want to see that. I have added some toasted walnuts which adds an extra crunch and also a lovely flavour, and have also adjusted the quantities to better suit a serving of two. I have also reduced the amount of olive oil used.

Serves 2

Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 125g fettucine (dried weight) or two nests as in the pack

• 60g feta cheese

• Small handful dill, chopped (about 10g)

• Juice of ¼ of a lemon

• 40g walnuts, toasted

  Sauce

• 259g cooked beetroot

• ½ clove garlic, peeled

• 1 small red chilli, deseeded, I use the fresh, mild ones you typically get in pack from the super market (adjust to your taste)

• ½ tsp salt

• 30ml extra virgin olive oil

Method

1. (See step 4 as it may be best to get your pasta cooking first). Toast your walnuts then set aside for later, this usually takes about 12 minutes if placed in to a cold oven set on 200c so if this is the first thing you do, then by the time the nuts are done the rest of the dish will pretty much be ready to assemble as well. If your oven is already hot, it will only take about 5 minutes to toast the walnuts usually. You can tell when the nuts are ready as they will start to release a lovely nutty aroma.

2. Get a pan of salted water on the stove to boil for the pasta.

3. Place all the sauce ingredients in a food processor and pulse until thoroughly mixed and the sauce becomes fairly smooth.

4. Cook your pasta, I like to use fettuccine which cooks very quickly, after about 4 minutes. This could actually be step one depending on the cooking time of your pasta.

5. Whilst the pasta is cooking, break up the feta into small chunks and mix in a bowl with the dill and lemon juice.  Roughly chop your walnuts.

6. Once the pasta is cooked, drain then place back in the pot on the lowest of heats.

7. Add the beetroot sauce and combine so all the pasta is well coated. You will find after a minute or so the pasta really takes on the vibrant fuchsia of the beetroot.

8. Serve up the pasta into dishes and then top with the feta and dill mixture and the walnuts. Be generous with these toppings.   

9. Marvel at the beauty of this dish, then enjoy!