Description: Summer vegetable pasta. Simple and refreshing, can be served chilled. This
dish can be a main or a side as you wish.
Serves: 2
Cooking time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

• Spaghetti – 160g
• Garlic – pureed, 2 clove
• Cherry tomatoes – 6 pieces or 40g
• Courgette – chopped, 1 piece or 200g
• Olive oil – 2 tablespoons
• Salt – 2 dashes
• Ground black pepper – 2 dashes
• Fresh Parsley – chopped, 2 tablespoons

Method

1. Cook the spaghetti to al dente in plenty of boiling water with salt.
2. Meanwhile, in a non-stick frying pan, add the oil, garlic and courgette over medium heat.
3. Once the courgette is cooked, add tomato, salt, and black pepper fry for a few minutes.
4. Stir in the hot drained pasta, and parsley and mix well. If it needs more moisture, add a splash of the pasta-cooking water.

To serve: Sprinkle additional ground black pepper.

Nutritional Values Per Serving

Kcal	Protein	Fat	Carbs	Fibre	Sugars	Salt	Saturated Fat	Vitamin B3	Vitamin C
432.3	11.7g	15.8g	63.8g	4.3g	4.5g	0.4g	0.4g	6.4mg	26.6mg
21.6%	23.4%	22.6%	24.5%	14.4%	5.0%	6.9%	2.0%	48.9%	66.6%

Nutritional Tips

Tomatoes are low in fat, high in fibre, vitamin C and are a good source of potassium. They also contain some vitamins B1, B2, B6, folates, essential minerals (iron, calcium) and no cholesterol, all while being really low in calories with 18 kcal per 100g. On top of this, tomatoes are very versatile, so you can add them in so many different dishes. Tomatoes are a fruit but interestingly we prepare and eat them like other vegetables. 

I have one important memory with tomatoes that I would like to share with you today. It is about the event I went to which is called “La Tomatina”. It is a festival held in Buñol (Valencian town) in the east of Spain. In this event, participants throw tomatoes. It’s purely entertainment. I was one of them about 10 years ago. The street is very narrow and the truck full of tomatoes comes and drops from their back. I got some tomato shot on my face and obviously, the whole body was completely soaked with natural red paint … I have never seen so many tomatoes in one place and experienced a tomato pool … or I felt as if I was an ingredient of tomato sauce. 

After all, neighbours are very kind to wash these participants’ bodies by using their house hose (basically they spray it at you). I could only do it because I was young … but it was fun :). Some tomato skin came out from my head 3 days later… Nowadays I still enjoy tomatoes, but only on my plate.