So, It Turns Out Reheated Pasta Is Actually Really Healthy – Leftovers #FTW

Not only is reheated pasta delicious and easy, it can also save your life. Well, sort of. The BBC's *Trust Me, I'm a Doctor's *latest discovery shows that reheating pasta transforms it from a carbohydrate to a resistant starch when it's cooked, cooled and re-heated. Basically this means that instead of the carbohydrates turning into sugars and increasing your body's glucose levels, it'll actually reduce your glucose levels by up to 50%. Oh, and further research by scientist Dr Denise Robertson shows that your body will treat it like a fibre rather than a carb, so you'll also absorb fewer calories.

So, next time you're complaining that you're eating Sunday night's pasta again, stop and think about the fact that no, you are not being lazy but rather, you're making a conscious decision to be fit and healthy. So yeah, leftovers, totally a thing.

Here are a few easy win pasta recipes from BBC Good Food to get you started on your eating-and-reheating journey, plus this banging dish from RecipesPlus.

Ten-minute pasta

Ingredients

350g pasta

1 carrot, roughly chopped

½ small onion, roughly chopped

½ stick celery, roughly chopped

6-8 ripe plum tomato, roughly chopped

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp red pesto

2 tbsp raspberry vinegar

grated parmesan and basil leaves, to serve

Method

Cook the pasta according to the pack instructions. Meanwhile, add everything else apart from the parmesan and basil to a food processor and whizz together until you get a smooth paste.

Tip into a saucepan and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and leave to cook for 5 mins.

Drain the pasta, toss together with the tomato sauce, then serve with the parmesan and basil leaves.

Sunblush spaghetti

Ingredients

400g spaghetti

100g SunBlush or sundried tomatoes, roughly chopped

1 tbsp tomato purée

handful olives, roughly chopped

2 tbsp oil from the tomatoes, or olive oil

50g vegetarian parmesan-style cheese, grated

50g pine nuts, toasted

Method

Boil the pasta according to pack instructions. Meanwhile, roughly chop the tomatoes. Drain the spaghetti, reserving a cupful of the cooking water in the bottom of the pan.

With the pan still on the heat, stir the tomatoes, tomato purée, olives, oil and half the cheese into the water and bring to the boil. Simmer for a few mins to make a loose sauce, then season to taste. Toss the pasta and pine nuts through the sauce and serve sprinkled with the rest of the cheese.

Pesto & courgette pasta bake

Ingredients

400g pasta shapes, try rigatoni, bows or macaroni

190g jar or fresh tub of basil pesto

500g tub half-fat crème fraîche

550g courgettes, grated

85g fresh breadcrumbs

olive oil, for drizzling

Method

Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Cook the pasta for 1-2 mins less than the pack instructions say, so that it has a little more bite. Reserve a ladle of cooking water.

Meanwhile, mix the pesto, crème fraîche and courgettes together. Add the pasta and stir well, adding a little of the reserved water to create a good sauce consistency. Taste and season.

Tip the pasta and sauce into a baking dish and scatter over the breadcrumbs. Drizzle with a little olive oil and bake for 20 mins until the topping is crisp.

#LeftoversFTW

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Follow Delphine on Twitter: @delphinechui

This article originally appeared on The Debrief.