Pink pasta with chorizo ​​and beetroot in feta and mint sauce

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 200 g pasta, e.g. fusilli
• 100 g chorizo, mild
• 200 g beetroot, pre-cooked
• 3 spring onions
• 125 g feta cheese made from sheep’s milk
• 100 ml orange juice
• 150 ml cream
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp mint, dried
• salt and pepper
• some walnut kernels
• 1 tsp olive oil

Instructions

Working time approx. 20 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 10 minutes; Total time approx. 30 minutes

Cut the chorizo ​​lengthwise with a sharp knife, peel, quarter lengthwise, and cut into pieces. Grate the pre-cooked beetroot. Wash the spring onions, remove the root ends, and slice the rest into rings, separating the white and green parts. Crumble about 3/4 of the feta cheese, reserving the rest for grating later. Cook the pasta in a pot of salted water according to the package instructions and drain about 1 minute before the end of the specified cooking time. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a high-fat frying pan and cook the chorizo ​​for about 4 minutes over medium heat. Then add the grated beetroot and the white parts of the spring onions to the pan and fry for about 1-2 minutes. Deglaze with the orange juice and shortly after add the crumbled feta cheese. Stir until melted. Then pour in the cream, add the apple cider vinegar and the dried mint and bring everything to a boil briefly. Season the sauce generously with pepper and a little salt. Add the almost cooked pasta to the pan and cook for another 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly, until the pasta has turned a pink color. When serving, grate the remaining feta cheese over the pasta and scatter the green rings of the spring onions and the roughly broken walnuts on top. Tips and hints: When grating the beetroot, it is best to wear disposable gloves, as the beetroot juice stains strongly. For this dish, it is best to use feta cheese made from sheep’s milk rather than herder’s cheese made from cow’s milk, as the latter can sometimes be difficult to crumble and, above all, does not melt as creamy in the sauce. Be careful when using fresh mint instead of dried: In the end, the mint should really only be very light and not overpower everything.