Spaghetti Marco Polo
This kid-friendly, veggie-filled remix, inspired by Julia Child's visit to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, serves 4-6 generous portions. Ingredients marked with a (v) can also be substituted with vegan versions. Note from Scott: Julia aimed to show kids and families that a delicious meal doesn’t require hours in the kitchen and that preparing it can also be a family affair. For this remixed recipe, I'm keeping many of Julia’s original ingredients, but now that we’re old enough to use the stove, we can take this retro recipe to the next level.
Recipe Ingredients
- For the pesto:
- - 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- - 2 green onions (just the whites)
- - 2 cups fresh flat-leaf parsley
- - 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (v)
- - 1/2 cup olive oil
- - 1/8 teaspoon salt
- For the pasta:
- - 1 pound of spaghetti
- - 2 tablespoons butter (v)
- - 15 oz. can of chickpeas
- - 1/2 cup jarred roasted red pepper (chopped)
- - 2 green onions (just the green parts, sliced)
- - 1/2 cup black olives (chopped)
- - 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes (chopped)
- - 1/2 cup canned artichokes (chopped)
- - 1 teaspoon salt (for pasta water)
- - 3/4 to 1 cup reserved pasta water
- - Salt & pepper to taste
Recipe Instructions
For the pesto:
- Add nuts, green onions, parsley, parmesan, and olive oil to a food processor.
- Pulse until everything is combined. You don’t want a smooth mix, but rather a slightly chunky pesto sauce.
Pulling it together:
- Boil pasta for 8-9 minutes with 1 teaspoon of salt. When pasta is ready, remember to reserve your pasta water as you drain.
- Drain pasta and add to a big bowl.
- Add half of the pesto and stir with a little pasta water. This will create a sauce. Add more pesto and water if you like lots of pesto.
- Add butter and stir while the pasta is warm.
- Toss in the chickpeas, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, peppers and artichokes.
- Top with sliced green onions, salt and pepper to taste.