I have found another wonderful source for plant based dishes that are fun and easy and delicious. It’s called Party in your plants by Talia Pollock. This book can be purchased thru Amazon and she is funny!! Another great resource to add to your kitchen. I will be trying out and sharing some of her recipes in my blog to acquaint you to this fabulous author and cook. I have to say the picture in the book didn’t quite look like my picture but then I tweaked a little from the get go. She used regular pasta and I used red lentil gluten free penne pasta. She used chopped sun dried tomatoes and I put my sundried tomatoes in with the pesto and used the food processor so they were much finer. I also used frozen spinach because that is what I had on hand. She didn’t say fresh or frozen but by the look of her dish verses mine, I’d say she used fresh. I figured since the spinach was going into the pesto sauce, frozen would work just fine. I loved mine with siracha sauce and my daughter added chicken to her serving. Tweak away dear friends!!!! I toasted my walnuts and then left them in the toaster oven when I took this dish to my daughters house for dinner. It was very good without the walnuts but I can’t wait to do leftovers and add the walnuts. yum!!! Another little burst of flavor.
Preheat oven to 400
toast 1/2 c. walnuts 5-8 minutes till lightly brown and smell amazing!!
Pasta: cook according to package directions. I used Red Lentil penne ..she used Banza Chickpea pasta) 1… 8 oz. box
PESTO: In a food processor
3 cups spinach or 1 box of frozen spinach
1 c. tightly packed basil ( I had enough of my own fresh basil to use. How fun to step outside and grab an ingredient!)
2 garlic cloves
juice of 1 lemon (I added a tsp of zest)
1/4 tsp.sea salt or pink salt
1/4 c. olive oil
2 tbl. nutritional yeast (this is not the yeast you use in breads or rolls. It’s found in the baking section of your store)
Process these ingredients till mixed well. (Be sure to take a taste of this pesto.. it’s delicious!!! ) I did have to add about 4-6 tbl. of water to this mix to make it a little more saucy .
VEGGIES….In a pot: cover with enough water to cover veggies…bring to a boil and drain
2 c. frozen broccoli
1 c. frozen peas (I used a cup of mixed veggies because that is what I had on hand)
COMBINE:
Pasta, pesto veggies.. transfer to dish..top with walnuts, and more nutritional yeast. Bake for 10 -12 minutes and serve immediately. Leftovers should be stored in the frig. if you’re lucky enough to have leftovers. I am going to give this recipe 4 spoons as it took a little time to assemble but ,worth the time…..
side note: I think this dish needs something more and I think onions would boost the flavor along with a little more salt and pepper.. On day two, it’s pretty bland…in my humble opinion. 🙂