Beet & Pistachio Cream Rigatoni
Beet & Pistachio Cream Rigatoni
Valentine’s Week is here!
And our in-house nutritionist Laura is back with another recipe, and as usual, this one is made with love.
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All year round we celebrate our beloved motto to Love Your Liver, and we keep this in mind with every recipe that we share. Yet this month, as we approach the world-wide celebration of love, we can’t help but lean into this motto just a little bit more!
You may be wondering; how can I show my liver some love? With the daily 500+ functions built into the liver’s to-do list, eating liver-friendly foods is one great way to ease that list. These kinds of foods are ones that ease our digestive system and don’t add more burden to the jobs that only the liver can do, such as filtering away toxins!
When it comes to a favourite meal for me, pasta is always at the top of the list. This Beet & Pistachio Cream Rigatoni is the perfect choice to celebrate this Valentine’s Day! This recipe adds a great source of veggies right into the sauce without even being able to tell – aside from the radiant pink colour that is. The earthy, sweet mixture of the beets along with the nutty pistachio and creamy goat cheese is such a fun and mouth-watering concoction of flavour that I just can’t get enough of.
Serves 2-4 people
Ingredients
3 large sized beets washed, peeled, and quartered
6 tbsp goat cheese
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp pistachios toasted and chopped
fresh mint leaves for garnish
kosher salt (optional)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp Italian seasoning
1 lb rigatoni
Instructions
(1) Preheat oven to 400.
(2) Place beets in foil on a cookie sheet or in a baking dish, toss with a tbsp of olive oil, salt and pepper and bake for 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow them to cool.
(3) Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and add in a tsp of olive oil. This helps the pasta to not stick during cooking. Drain the pasta once cooked and save some of the pasta water for later.
(4) Combine cooked beets, 4 tbsp goat cheese, clove of garlic, 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp of pistachios, 1 tbsp pasta water, a pinch of salt and a pinch of cayenne in a blender. Blend until smooth.
(5) Add the blended sauce in with the pasta in a large serving dish. Add some of the reserved pasta water if needed to thin out the sauce.
(6) Plate and top with your choice of more goat cheese, chopped toasted pistachios, pepper, and/or fresh mint.
Notes
(1) Feel free to use any pasta, rigatoni is my favourite but you could use penne, spaghetti, bowtie, or any other whole grain pasta!
(2) If you’re not as big a fan of pistachios or not strong nut flavour, you could lower to 1 tbsp or change to walnuts for a different but delicious flavour profile.
Recipe inspired by: https://wishbonekitchen.com/beet-and-goat-cheese-pasta/