This weekend, in honor of Valentine’s Day, some of my girlfriends got together for some food, wine and sweets (what’s a girls night without wine and sweets?) It was a fun night as we exchanged gifts with our “secret cupids” and chowed down on home-made goods!
I decided to contribute to the dinner portion and made some whole wheat pasta nests with Capellini noodles. It was so simple (literally, just basic pasta), but the nests added a whole new visual element to the dish. I loved the way they looked; they are perfect for parties!
You can make any type of pasta with these. I went with a tomato and parsley version, but pesto, basil, marinara, goat cheese would all be delicious additions! For more information on whole grains, here is my post on Why You Should Eat Whole Grains.
Whole Wheat Vegetarian Pasta Nests
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp dried basil
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 handful parsley, chopped
8oz whole wheat noodles, cooked (I used Capellini)
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper
Directions
Cook the noodles according to directions
In a pan, pan-fry the chopped garlic. When it starts to brown, add the red pepper flakes and basil. Heat for about a minute.
Add the cherry tomatoes, heat for another minute
Remove the pan from heat and add the pasta and olive oil. Toss to combine
Toss in the parsley
Twirl with a fork into muffin tins
Whole Wheat Vegetarian Pasta Nests
by Kristin Hong
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients (12 nests)
- 5 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 handful parsley, chopped
- 8oz whole wheat cappelini noodles, cooked
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
Cook the noodles according to directions
In a pan, pan-fry the chopped garlic. When it starts to brown, add the red pepper flakes and basil. Heat for about a minute.
Add the cherry tomatoes, heat for another minute
Remove the pan from heat and add the pasta, parsley and olive oil. Toss to combine
Twirl with a fork into muffin tins
Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees and let them cool for 10 minutes. Remove and enjoy!
2 Comments
Min
February 12, 2013 at 10:33 pmHI Kristin! It’s nice to “meet” you! Your blog is quite lovely and I just LOVE that you’re all about healthful eating ;). I saw your post on AFBA facebook page and thought I’d come by to say hi! I’ve made something very similar to these pasta nests as well and they are so cute and delish, aren’t they? And yes, let’s all eat more whole grains!!
Kristin H
February 12, 2013 at 10:41 pmHi Min! It’s nice to meet you too, I’m so glad you stopped by! Thank you so much, I really enjoyed looking at your blog too, it seems like we are on the same page :) Hopefully I will see you at some of the AFBA events soon!