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July 04, 2015

Asparagus & Spinach Pasta with Checca Sauce

Blogging Marathon# 54: Week 1/ Day 2
Theme: Vegetarian Italian dishes
Dish: Asparagus & Spinach Pasta with Checca Sauce
Today's dish is a simple pasta with sauteed asparagus and spinach that is then mixed with a no-cook checca sauce. We had this dish at California Pizza kitchen couple of months back and I wanted to try it at home ever since.
Spaghetti with Checca Sauce
The first time I made it, I wasn't sure if the kids would like it. But both the kids came back for seconds. This dish will be in my meal rotation now.

Checca sauce is nothing but fresh tomato sauce made with cherry tomatoes, scallions, garlic and olive oil. It adds lots of flavor to the dish and since it is no-cook, it takes just few minutes to make the sauce in the food processor. Asparagus and spinach cook up in no time too, so the most time taking process for this dish is boiling water and cooking the pasta. This is a great dish to make for a weeknight dinner.
Spaghetti with Checca sauce
I've made this dish with both fresh and frozen spinach and both work great. Asparagus can be substituted with other veggies like green beans. Also add your favorite protein to make it a wholesome meal. I've added cooked chickpeas once and Gardein chickn the second time. Italian style tofu or simple sauteed tofu would be great options here.
Spaghetti with Checca Sauce
Ingredients: Serves 4
Thin Spaghetti or Angel Hair Pasta - 8 oz. (or any other pasta of choice)
Thin Spaghetti or Angel hair pasta - 8oz. (I used whole wheat thin spaghetti)
Asparagus - 1 bundle, chopped into 1" pieces
Spinach - 9 oz. bag
Salt & Pepper - to taste
Tofu/ Chickpeas/ Gardein Chick'n or other protein - as needed (optional)

For the Checca Sauce:
Scallions - 5~6, chopped
Cherry tomatoes - 2 cups, halved
Garlic - 3 cloves, crushed
Basil - 8~10 leaves
Parmesan cheese - 3tbsp, grated
Extra virgin Olive oil - 3tbsp
Salt & Pepper - to taste

Method:
  • Cook the pasta according to package instructions. Drain and reserve 1 cup of pasta cooking water. 
  • Make the Checca sauce: Combine all the ingredients for the sauce in a food processor and pulse until the tomatoes are crushed. Make sure that the tomatoes are not completely pureed.
  • Heat 1tbsp olive oil in a saute pan, add asparagus and cook on medium-high heat until they are tender and lightly charred around the edges. Add the spinach and cook until wilted, about 2~3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
  • Add the checca sauce, mix well and turn off the heat.
  • Stir in the cooked pasta and mix to combine. Add reserved pasta water if the dish looks too dry.
  • Serve immediately topped with the choice of protein for a complete meal.

 
Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked today for BM# 54.
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13 comments:

  1. Sounds yummy. Another one goes into my bookmarks folder. :)

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  2. Very interesting sauce , and the pasta looks nice and colorful , healthy too . Super recipe.

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  3. The pictures look great Pavani and I like the dish as well. I will bookmark this and try this sometime.

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  4. such a simple, elegant and delicious pasta!! the sauce looks so yumm..

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  5. Checca sauce, new to me and sounds interesting..Healthy pasta recipe and asusual amazing clicks..

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  6. Checca sauce is truly very interesting, havent tried this sauce... now you are tempting me, beautiful pasta..

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  7. What an awesome bowl of pasta this is. Love the use of asparagus in the pasta dishes.

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  8. The sauce sounds new to me. bookmarked!

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  9. Can finish this bowl of yummy pasta.

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  10. Interesting sauce .. Am
    Getting to making pasta for dinner recently ... This is being bookmarked !

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  11. great weeknight dinner idea..easy and tasty checca sauce...very helpful recipe..

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  12. Pavani, the entire bowl looks so so inviting..and your kids are amazing if they are eating all these..my hugs to them!..

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