I bought these tasty vegan raviolis at the store and noticed on the back a no dairy recipe in the tiniest print on the back for pesto! Well, it is a sauce, like pesto.
It is well known here that I do NOT have a green thumb. I managed to kill my latest basil plant...but one has been growing somewhat anemically for nearly a year.
You can see Spike and me here planting MORE basil....hopefully I won't kill it...
ANYWAY, this pesto is quite tasty, yum yum! I have made it a few times lately**....have an awesome day!
Leftovers = terrific burrito :)
**vegan pasta with pesto!
I made some changes to the original recipe on the ravioli package, this works really really well:
-cook 6-8 oz pasta or 8-10 oz ravioli or tortellini per usual (you know that since they are so big sauce seems to cover more ounces ravioli than regular pasta, right?)
-in you blender or food processor dump in:
one cup firmly packed basil
4 oz firm tofu (use 2 ounces if you want a thinner, more liquid and green pesto, like for pizza or if that is your preference)
1/2 cup walnuts (original uses either walnuts or pine nuts, but they are so expensive I prefer to grind in walnuts and then toss some pine nuts on top of the whole dish so they can be enjoyed more)
1/4 olive oil
garlic
1 tbs lemon juice
1 teas soy sauce
1 tbs nutritional yeast
blend it smooth and lovely!
Mix into pasta, either hot or saved in the fridge as pasta salad for later!
Top with, if you wish: a spoonful or 2 of pine nuts, diced tomato, black kalamata olives
I think you are doing really well with the basil given your season, winter with snow! We are in the peak of our basil season now and looking to start planting coriander, as it cools down we have a better chance of getting some edible leaves before it bolts to seed.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a big fan of tofu, but this actually sounds pretty good.
ReplyDeleteI grow basil all summer......I throw it in a blender with olive oil and freeze it for the winter. That alone works well with balsamic vinegar as a salad dressing. If I want real pesto I add garlic, cheese, nuts after thawing. Have you ever tired pistachio nuts? I got some for Christmas and like the flavor they add. I store them in the freezer.
I'm not a huge tofu fan either but this might be okay. I'm willing to try it anyway, it looks pretty darn good.
ReplyDeleteHere I am not having had breakfast yet, and salivating all over the keyboard. Gotta try this.
ReplyDeleteI like tofu, we eat it quite often. I would never have thought to add the soy sauce, seems a little odd... could you taste it?
ReplyDeleteno, cannot taste the soy sauce at all...or the tofu! Tofu is nothing, just blank, esp. mixed with all the herb flavor! The original recipe called for miso which I do not have and so I was like "soy sauce and nutritional yeast instead?" :)
ReplyDeleteBasil in February is impressive.
ReplyDeleteYum! I'm with Smartcat, I don't put the cheese in until I'm ready to eat the pesto. I think it freezes better without the cheese. Hmmm...miso and/or soy sauce are both interesting ideas. Now I'm hungry!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds pretty darn good.
ReplyDelete