Courgetti with Avocado Pesto

For my birthday I got two recipe books (yes my collection does now number over 30...) that I am completely obsessed with. Hemsley + Hemsley and Deliciously Ella. The first recipe I couldn't wait to try was courgetti. Armed with my spiralizer I set off.

Now, I have a confession. I hate courgette. My mum puts it in bolognese (weird) and I used to spend ages picking it out, but I was determined to give it a go. First I tried it with puttanesca (H+H recipe) and it was AMAZING. I ate it three times last week. Deciding I needed to branch out a bit I flipped through Deliciously Ella and came across her avocado pesto recipe. I didn't have all the ingredients in the house so came up with this recipe which uses fresh, homemade pesto.

What you'll need:

• 50g fresh basil leaves
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 25g pine nuts
• 90ml extra virgin olive oil
• 2 large courgettes
• 1 ripe avocado
• Half a lime
• Parmesan, grated
• Black pepper

(Serves 2)

Toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan until just brown. Then put into a small food processor with the basil, garlic and olive oil. Wizz until smooth then add the avocado flesh and blend again. Season with pepper and add the juice of half a lime to add a zing.

Cut the ends off each courgette and put them through your spiralizer according to the instructions.

Add all the avocado pesto to a large, deep frying pan or wok and warm through. Add all the courgette to the pan and stir until fully coated. Heat for around 5 minutes until the courgette is warm all the way through but still a bit crunchy.

Divide between two pasta dishes and sprinkle over parmesan if desired.

PS. I used this spiralizer. I'm not going to lie, it's not the greatest - I won't be winning any prizes for neat ribbons but it does the job and for only £2.68 it's the cheapest on the market by far. I would definitely recommend if you just want to try courgetti out for the first time.