Pasta doesn't exactly have the best reputation for being a health food. Enter spirulina. Its superfood designation helps make even pasta with parmesan (or in this case, Romano) not feel like a guilty pleasure -- even if it tastes like one.
Though spirulina can have an unpleasant taste, it is completely masked by the addition of Old Bay seasoning, roasted corn, and Romano cheese. Parmesan can also work in a pinch, but since Romano is sharper and more flavorful, it meshes better with the brine-like taste of the spirulina.
I hope you enjoy the recipe!
ROASTED CORN & SPRIULINA PASTA
Servings: 2 people
Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
2 cups (150 grams) rotini pasta
1 cup corn, frozen or canned
5 tbsp (25 grams) grated romano cheese
4 tbsp salted butter, divided
1.5 tsp Old Bay season
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp spirulina powder
Salt, to taste
Directions:
In a pot, bring some salted water to boil. Add the pasta and cook for 7-9 minutes.
In the meantime, melt 1/2 tbsp of butter into a skillet on medium-high heat . Once it is melted, add the corn and roast until browned on all sides. In my experience, this takes around 3-4 minutes for canned, room temperature corn and around 5-7 for frozen corn, depending on how spaced out your kernels are. Lightly sprinkle the corn with salt.
In a bowl, combine the Romano cheese, onion powder, Old Bay, and spriulina powder. Mix well.
Drain the pasta, and then add it back to the pot.
Add the corn and the rest of the butter to the pot and stir so that the butter melts.
Last but not least, begin to sprinkle the spirulina mixture over the pasta. Do not add the entire mix, just gradually add in and taste every so often. I usually end up with a little less than a tablespoon left of the mixture once it is done to my taste.
Enjoy!
