Adam Liaw’s penne with grilled greens
If you have a barbecue near your kitchen, I recommend grilling the greens on that – one less pan to wash!
Ingredients
2-3 whole English spinach plants, washed well
½ bunch asparagus
8 green beans
4 spring onions
2 tbsp roughly chopped basil
1 garlic clove, minced
500g dried penne
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
½ cup freshly ground parmesan, plus extra to serve
freshly ground black pepper, to serve
Method
Step 1
Heat a barbecue, grill pan or frying pan on high heat. Grill the spinach, asparagus, beans and spring onions until slightly charred. Trim the roots from the spinach and discard, then chop all the vegetables into roughly 1cm dice. Mix the chopped basil and minced garlic through the vegetables and season well with salt and pepper.
Step 2
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the pasta. Cook according to the packet directions, but start to check 2 minutes before the recommended cooking time.
Step 3
Reserve about ¼ of a cup of the pasta water and drain the pasta. Return it to the warm pot and add the vegetables along with the oil, reserved pasta water and about ½ a cup of grated parmesan. Stir until the mixture thickens to form a sauce that coats the pasta, transfer to a serving plate, grate over more parmesan and freshly ground pepper, and serve.
Adam’s tip: Combining your pasta with the sauce before the pasta’s fully cooked allows the pasta to better absorb the flavours of the sauce.
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Adam Liaw is a cookbook author and food writer, co-host of Good Food Kitchen and former MasterChef winner.
