Rice Pasta with Courgette & Basil Sauce — Gut-Friendly Recipe

Preparation Steps

1. Prepare the courgettes. Wash the courgettes and trim the ends. Cut them into roughly 1.5cm dice. There's no need to peel them — the skin provides extra gentle fibre and remains very easy to digest once cooked.

2. Sauté the courgettes. In a large frying pan, heat the garlic-infused olive oil and 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil over a medium heat (avoid excessive heat, which can degrade the oil's polyphenols). Add the sliced green tops of the spring onions and cook for 1–2 minutes until softened. Add the diced courgette, season lightly with salt, and cook for 8–10 minutes, stirring regularly, until the courgette is completely tender and lightly golden.

3. Cook the rice pasta. Meanwhile, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Add the rice pasta and cook al dente, following the timing on the packet (typically 6–8 minutes). An al dente texture holds better and is often more easily tolerated by sensitive guts. Reserve a mugful of pasta cooking water before draining.

4. Make the courgette and basil sauce. Once the courgette is cooked, transfer three-quarters of it into a blender or a jug suitable for a stick blender. Add the 20 fresh basil leaves, the juice of half a lemon, the remaining 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, and 3–4 tablespoons of the reserved pasta cooking water to loosen. Blend until smooth and velvety. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Blending the sauce to a fine consistency makes it more uniform and easier to digest — particularly helpful for those with irritable bowel syndrome.

5. Bring the dish together. Return the blended sauce to the frying pan over a very low heat. Add the reserved unblended courgette pieces to retain some texture. Add the drained rice pasta and toss gently until well coated in the sauce. If the sauce seems too thick, add a little more cooking water, a spoonful at a time, until you reach the consistency you like.

6. Finish off the heat. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the grated Parmesan (or nutritional yeast for a dairy-free version) and scatter over a few extra basil leaves, torn by hand. Adding the basil off the heat preserves its aromatic compounds and antioxidants, and gives the dish a wonderful freshness.

7. Serve straight away. Spoon into warm shallow bowls, drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil, add a few whole basil leaves, and finish with a good grind of black pepper. Enjoy immediately, while the aromas are at their best.

💡 Microbiome tip: resistant starch

To maximise the benefits of this dish for your gut microbiome, try cooking the rice pasta ahead of time: cook it, allow it to cool completely in the fridge for at least 4 hours (or overnight), then reheat it gently in the pan before assembling the dish. This cooling process converts a portion of the starch into resistant starch, which behaves like a prebiotic fibre and feeds the beneficial bacteria in your colon — in particular, it supports the production of butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid that helps protect the gut lining.

🌿 Adaptations to suit your needs

• Strictly low-FODMAP (IBS): use only the garlic-infused oil (no garlic pieces), the green tops of the spring onions, and ensure your Parmesan is well-aged (naturally low in lactose). Avoid nutritional yeast if you find it personally difficult to tolerate.
• Vegan version: replace the Parmesan with nutritional yeast, and check that your rice pasta contains no egg.
• Dairy-free version: simply opt for nutritional yeast in place of the Parmesan.
• For a very sensitive gut during a flare: serve the sauce fully blended (with no courgette pieces) and reduce the quantity of basil slightly.