Creamy Spinach Pesto Pasta

Pasta is one of my favourite continental dishes and you get a lot of vegetarian variations. Red,white,green sauces can be made very easily at home. This recipe is a mix of green and white sauces. Pesto sauce is usually made with basil and pine nuts. Here is a variation made with Spinach and walnuts. Since I wanted to use less cheese, I preferred to mix some white sauce to get a creamier taste to the green sauce.You can use Spaghetti and Penne pastas.

Pesto sauce:

1. Remove stems and clean the entire spinach bunch. Use 3/4 part of it for the sauce.
2. Add 3 garlic cloves,walnuts,1 spoon butter and grind it to a smooth. Water is not needed mostly.

Method:

1. Add olive oil,butter,toss garlic cloves,mushroom,chopped spinach leaves. Mix the sauce once mushroom and spinach are done.
2. Stir the green sauce in simmer until the bitter taste subsides. Add salt and pepper powder.
3. You can use either spaghetti or Penne pastas for this sauce. I used 1.5 cups of Spaghetti and 1.5 cups of Penne rigate (striped Penne).
4. Boil pasta in water with required salt. Drain after it’s done but still stiff. Wash in cold water.
5. Mix 2 tblspn corn flour with 1.5 cup milk and salt.No lumps to be created.
6. Add pasta in green sauce and coat it uniformly. Adjust salt,pepper and mixed herbs as per taste.
7. Since I made 2 varieties of pastas, I split sauce into 2 halves.
8. Add half part of corn starch along with 3/4 cup of extra milk into pasta and pesto sauce mixture. It will thicken a little and turns creamy.
9. Add 1/2 cube of grated Amul cheddar cheese. In case you use same variety of pasta, add 1-2 small cubes of cheese and add 3 cups of milk  for 2 tblspn corn flour.
10. Serve hot with some parsley leaves for garnishing.