From Steph to Chef!: PESTO-love ;)

Monday, 12 May 2014

PESTO-love ;)

HI! My name is Steph.. and I LOVE PESTO!
HI STEPH!
Hehe, ok, well I probably don't need to go to a support group, but the addiction is there!
I think it all started when I tried it at this Italian restaurant on a veggie pizza. It was swirled on top... and DELICIOUS! Ever since then... I put it on anything.

Unfortunately I didn't have any when I made this earlier this week:

A delicious stuffed to the brim mega mushroom!

Without my beloved pesto.. I settled for salsa instead- still good :) It was stuffed with quinoa, steamed veggies, sundried tomatoes, cranberries and pine nuts.
Yesterday I bought basil.
I made pesto.
And an out-of-this-world dinner!

Pesto pasta with roasted tomato and pumpkin
Ingredients:
Pesto:
1 handful basil
1 handful spinach
1 tablespoon pine nuts
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice

Rest of meal:
gluten free pasta (as much as you like)
1 tomato (or half a large tomato- like I used)
olive oil
pepper
1/4 cup red kidney beans rinsed
handful of peas
few chunks of pumpkin
extra spinach

Method:
For the pesto:
1.Place all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth (this may take several minutes)

For the meal:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius. Line a tray with baking paper
2. Chop tomato into quarters, place on tray, drizzle with some olive oil and crack over some pepper- roast for about 30-45 mins until slightly black and nice and soft
3. Place pasta in a saucepan with boiling water and cook as packet recommends (usually from 8-15 mins)
4. Steam pumpkin until tender (15 mins)
5. Add peas to the last 5 mins of steaming pumpkin
6. Drain pasta, place back in pot, add pesto, spinach, and beans and stir to combine on a low heat. Place on plate once warmed and spinach has wilted: