Quinoa Spaghetti with Pesto and Baked Pollock

A few weeks ago I bought some quinoa spaghetti hoping it would taste good but not really expecting it to.  I didn't want to "waste" anything spectacular (like my Sicilian clams) on it but I still wanted it to be memorable just in case it was palatable.

Tonight I whipped up some incredible pesto.  You can't really go wrong with pesto can you?

Well it turns out that this was not only palatable, it was incredible and surprisingly light.  The texture was very similar to normal spaghetti and I didn't have any clumping issues while it cooked.

After looking at the ingredients, I understood why..

Yes.. Jardin Bio makes quinoa spaghetti.. but it only has 10% quinoa in it!  The rest is whole wheat.

Aaah marketing...

Of course, I should have looked at the ingredients before buying, but this may have been the rare occasion I actually didn't look, and with "gluten free" being all trendy nowadays, I didn't think they would even mix quinoa with any gluten products.  Lucky for me, none of this really bothers me.  It's actually a great pair because this spaghetti actually has the texture of... well.. spaghetti!  It's got 3% parsley and 0.5% garlic as well, but I'm actually happy I didn't "waste" any of my incredible Italian CoOp olive oil on any fake spaghetti.  I felt so proud and fancy that I even added a bit of balsamic vinegar art.

Serves 6

Ingredients

500g (1lb) dried quinoa spaghetti, cooked al dente

3 filets pollock (or any white fish.. mine was frozen)

2 tomatoes, roasted 15 minutes

1 large zucchini, sliced and griddled or oven roasted until golden

few pinches piment d'espelette

1/4 cup pine nuts

2 Tbsp capers

1 handful sundried tomatoes, chopped

1 cup reserved pasta cooking water

glassy balsamic vinegar for garnish

for pesto:

5 cloves garlic

1 bunch basil

pinch fleur de sel

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 cup extra special olive oil

3 pickled pepperocinis (fiber from Le Turc)

1 handful grated parmesan

Directions

1.  Cook the pasta in a large amount of salted water according to package instructions until al dente.  Before draining, reserve some of the cooking water.

2.  While this is happening, roast the pollock on an oven tray for about 10 minutes at 200°C 400°F.

3.  While all that is happening, make the pesto by blending it all together.  Add more olive oil if necessary.

4.  Brush a bit of pesto onto each fish filet, then cut each filet in half.

5.  Toss the al dente spaghetti with the roasted tomatoes, zucchini, pine nuts, capers, remaining pesto, sundried tomatoes, and add the pasta cooking water to make it creamy.

Serve in pasta bowls with a half filet of pesto brushed pollock per person.  Drizzle some glassy balsamic vinegar for that last bit of creative inspiration your inner Queen is letting you express.

Ahh I wonder how inspired I'll be by Dusseldorf..