The 20-minute pasta I make every week (high-protein, high-fibre)

This white pasta is low in protein and low in fiber. It won't support your gut or energy levels. This pasta is high in protein, high in fiber and made with a mix of anti-inflammatory whole foods. It's on the table in 20 minutes and I literally make a version of this every single week as a doctor and nutritionist trying to look after my gut health. Now when I make a pasta recipe, I'm always thinking through four key elements. Starting with a high fiber pasta. If you're a doctor's kitchen by now, you know that carbs aren't the devil. Carbs can be absolutely nutritious and a key part of a healthy diet. It's about quality and the dose of the carb. Just like bread, not all pastas are nutritionally the same. On one side you have white pasta which is refined. It tends to be low in fiber. If you move up the spectrum towards more whole grain varieties using things like spelt and whole grain wheat, you actually get a lot more fiber and a similar amount of protein. But now there are so many different varieties that are experimental using legumes like chickpea, red lentil, even black beans. And my personal favorite are ones that combine an ancient grain like spelt, farro or emma with a legume like fava beans, broad beans and chickpeas. This is not only great from a protein and fiber perspective, but because you're using a grain and a bean, you're getting a perfect balance of amino acids. It's a 20 minute meal so we're going to get a wriggle on. We're going to use a large saucier pan. Pop this on to a low to medium heat because we don't want to burn our ingredients as I'm yapping away to you guys. And we're going to start off with quintessential Mediterranean ingredient that is anti-inflammatory extra virgin olive oil. If you don't have any extra virgin olive oil in your diet and you have as little as seven grams a day, it shows a significant impact on your cardiovascular risk. And don't be afraid to cook this at low to medium temperatures. These polyphenols will actually protect those wonderful fats that deliver some of those anti-inflammatory benefits as well. I'm going to add my boiling water and keep this on a rolling boil. And my wife's nonna would always say you want the pasta water to be as salty as the sea. So we're going to add a good dose of sea salt, a dash of extra virgin olive oil as well just so the pasta doesn't stick together. Next ingredient is garlic. To make sure that this is a true no chop recipe, I'm going to be using my handy garlic crusher. Now if you don't have this at home, you can chop it. A little bit chopping is fine. It's a little bit chopping. But a garlic crusher is a really good piece of equipment to have in your kitchen when you want to do quick cooking. Or grate your garlic with a microplane, smash it with the side of your knife, and just run your knife through it. Again, a sort of no chop. This crushing of those cell walls increases the conversion to allicin, which is why, in part, garlic is so healthy for us. At every opportunity, we want to create this anti-inflammatory base. So we're going to go in with herbs and spices. Oregano is a great source of something like thymol and other polyphenols that have anti-inflammatory activity. We also know that people who regularly have chili in their diet tend to have lower rates of cardiovascular disease. Just an association, going to go in with this smashed garlic. I don't want this to sizzle. I just want it to very gently cook. This is really key when you're doing quick cooking at home. You don't want things to burn. I'm going to add the oregano and chili. Going to give a wonderful flavorful base. The research that we have looking at olives largely comes from extra virgin olive oil. All of those wonderful anti-inflammatory benefits. The same can't be said of the fruit, but it still does contain the same polyphenols. Plus, you're getting the beautiful saltiness without necessarily relying on added salt. Capers are one of the richer sources of quercetin, a very well-known anti-inflammatory ingredient that you also find in tea leaves. Whenever I taste capers, I just think of Mediterranean cooking. When you go to a beautiful Mediterranean restaurant, they'll literally just throw some fresh spaghetti into this, and that is your pasta dish, but not in the doctor's kitchen. We're always thinking about adding more nutrients, adding more varieties. One of the easiest ways to do that is with chopped tomatoes. You've got options. There's passata. You've got chopped tomatoes that you can find in tins or cans, or if you've got a little bit extra time, you can make your own pasta sauce using fresh tomatoes. I simply roughly chop them, pop them into a pan with salt and olive oil, lid on for around 12 minutes, mash it with the back of a fork or a potato masher, and there you have it. You've got a rich, delicious, sweet tomato sauce that you made from scratch in no time. Pepper before my tomatoes go in. Oh, look at the wonderful colours, but we don't stop there. We're going to be adding a fibre booster in the way of beans. Now, before you think, what on earth is that doctor doing putting beans in my pasta? Not only is this going to be adding extra protein, the core reason why I'm adding this is for fibre. The majority of us are fibre deficient. By adding fibre to this, it's going to make the entire meal that much more filling. Italians have paired beans and pasta for hundreds of years, and there are examples across different cultures as well. Egyptian koshary, Persian ashris, ashr, Persian ashrite, rish, rishte, Persian ashriste, rishte, I'm definitely saying it, I'm sorry Persians, and Mexican fidea with beans. I'm going in with bellotti because I love the flavour and they'll hold themselves really well. You could use chickpeas like in pasta e checce, cannellini beans would also work really well. This is your base, you can literally throw anything in that you like, just like Denise from the Doctor's Kitchen app. The pasta is only going to take 9 minutes, so I'm going to whack these in now. I would have done this right at the start, but because I've been yapping away to you guys, now's the time to do it. Just so everything comes together at the right time. The pasta will take around 8-9 minutes, you want to check it a couple of minutes before so you know it's al dente. Whilst the tomato sauce is bubbling away, you've got time, you're not going to burn anything, the flavours are just going to concentrate. So let me talk to you about our core protein. Oily fish. The vast majority of us are not consuming enough oily fish every single week, which is why our omega 3 levels tend to be super low. And omega 3 is super important because it protects our heart and our brain health. So if you can eat fish, try and get some into your diet as often as possible. Or if you're like our Edster Adams here and you don't like tinned oily fish, you can use a white fish, you could use prawns as well if you prefer, or even cooked leftover chicken or whatever core protein you prefer. Always ask yourself, where is the core protein? And if you're stuck, you can ask virtual Dr Rupi for suggestions as well as how to make changes to the entire recipe. You can also ask him to make swaps for any of the ingredients that you might not have in your own kitchen. I prefer getting jarred mackerel because you've got less potential contamination from the tin and you've got these firm, delicious fillets that are just wonderful. And this is where it gets controversial. I'm going to add peas. Now this is definitely not traditional. I'm not trying to pretend that you find these in Italian recipes. It's just another hack that I've developed over years of trying to boost the nutrient density of any meal I make. Whether it's curries, whether it's stews, and yes, pasta. They add a meaningful dose of things like fiber as well as a little bit of plant-based protein as well. And it's just so easy to fold into. That's like my Italian Nonna saying, no, don't put the peas in the bottom. Sorry, sorry Nonna. It's just an easy way to fold in greens into whatever you're cooking. I'm going to fold this gently so as to not break up the mackerel fillets completely. Let's check our pasta, shall we? I always knock off two minutes from the cooking instructions on the packet just because I want it al dente, which that is. Using a spider spatula, I'm just going to pop this into the pan. That way I'm catching a little bit of that pasta water in the tubes. The worst thing you can do is drain your pasta. You lose the starchy water, which will add a little bit of shine to your pasta sauce. Just give this a very gentle stir and we don't want to disturb the mackerel fillets too much. A tiny bit of pasta water. That is it, 20 minutes. And to finish off, as you know by now, I'm going to add greens at every opportunity. Rocket is what I've got today. Oh, it's in the fridge. It's a great way of getting compounds like lutein and zeaxanthin into your diet that can support both heart health and brain health. I'm going to scatter some greens on top just as a final flourish. I'm going to stir through the rocket just to let it wilt ever so slightly. Grab a couple of bowls and we can serve it up. This is the kind of pasta dish that won't make you feel sluggish afterwards. It's a lot more balanced. We're using anti-inflammatory ingredients and lots of fibre. And not only are we using a high fibre, high protein pasta, we're also using an appropriate amount. But I also like to add nuts and seeds, walnuts, pistachios. You can crush them, bash them in a pestle and mortar or even grate them on top. A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil rounds out this meal and there you have it. 20 minute pasta that's high in fibre and protein and made with anti-inflammatory ingredients. This is the kind of pasta recipe that won't make you feel sluggish afterwards. But I'm not having pasta every single day. On busy weeks I need other recipes to keep me going just like my high protein tray bakes. I'll show you how to make those in the next video.