Peppery pasta bowl (AIP, V+)

Radiant spring. Eat yourself beautiful

Quick, gorgeous pasta bowl, full of spring's energy. Ready within 15 mins.

You will need (serves 2):
4 young courgettes, barely any seeds in them
6 to 8 young, green asparagus
2 celery sticks
a good handful of watercress
a handful of radishes
2 to 3 spring onions
small bunch of parsley
1 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove (optional)

For the peppery green sauce:
two handfuls of watercress, about 100 g or so
small bunch of coriander (cilantro)
1 small lemon
1/3 cup olive oil

1. Prepare the sauce: rinse the watercress and cilantro, juice the lemon.
2. Put the ingredients into a tall glass container and inert a hand held blender and blend for half a minute or so.
3. Cover with a lid and put the container into the refrigerator.

4. Prepare the veg:
Asparagus - cut off the fibrous ends (the lower third) if any and discard. Peel off the outer layer of the lower half, then cut into 1.5 to 2 inch batons.
Courghetti (courgette noodles) - rinse, cut off the ends and cut in half (breadthwise) and spilarize them.
Tip: because they are not straight, spiralizing will make them swing to the sides and the noodles will be cut short, but by cutting the courgettes in half, breadthwise, it will ensure that the veg on the spiralizer does not swing too much to the sides, resulting in long noodles.

Rinse and thinly slice the celery.
Wash the radishes, cut off the ends then thinly slice.
Rinse the spring onions and cut into 1 cm pieces.
Thinly slice the garlic (if using).
Finely chop the parsley.
Rinse and drain the watercress.

5. In a large pan add the olive oil, then add the thinly sliced garlic (if using), stir to release the aroma.
6. Add the prepared asparagus, cook for a minute or two, then add the courghetti with a wee splash of water, cover with a lid for about 30 seconds.
7. Add the thinly sliced celery, the watercress, the spring onions and the parsley. Gently toss them together.
8. Remove the pan from the heat, add the thinly sliced radishes and two or three dollops of the peppery green sauce. Gently toss them together. Ready to serve. Enjoy!

Tip: Serve with grilled chicken breast slices. Drizzle with extra olive oil.