Pesto is the perfect accompaniment to your spring/summer plates. It's just delicious mixed through salads, spread on sourdough, even used as a pizza base and, of course, with pasta! It's fresh, wholesome and nourishing, with the slightest hint of sweetness coming through from the tomatoes.
We're serving it with our new pulse pastas (there's chickpea or lentil to choose from) for a generous serving of protein and fibre.This recipe uses pine nuts but you can swap them for sunflower seeds for a nut free version.
Serves two, with pesto leftover!
What you'll need (as always, shop the recipe in store!):
- 100g sun-dried tomatoes (soaked for at least 30 minutes in boiled water)
- 60ml olive oil
- 40g pine nutes
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 2 cloves of fresh garlic
- 20g nutritional yeast
- The juice of half a lemon
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 4 tablespoons of the water from soaking the tomatoes
- Enough pasta for two people (between 50-75g per person, roughly)
- Extra greens for serving
- Salt and pepper
How to make it:
- Place the sun-dried tomatoes in a heatproof bowl or container and cover with boiling water. Leave to stand for 30 minutes. Drain the tomatoes and set aside the soaking water.
- Add all of the ingredients apart from the pasta and greens to a blender, along with 4 tablespoons of the soaking water. Season, then blend to make your pesto. Add more of the soaking water as needed to reach your desired consistency. Taste and adjust seasonings to suit your taste.
- Cook the pasta. Our pulse pastas cook in around 8 minutes.
- Divide the cooked pasta between two bowls, adding a generous handful of the greens to each. Top with a dollop of the pesto, and whatever toppings you have. We think a sprinkle of feta (or a plant-based alternative), a generous glug of olive oil, salt and pepper will be perfect!
Any leftover pesto will keep for up to 5 days in a sealed container in the fridge. Delicious hot or cold.
