Recipe of the Week – Pasta with Roasted Tomato Basil Pesto

This week’s recipe comes from Oh She Glows. It is AH-mazing and super easy. Last time I made it, I didn’t use the nutritional yeast. I can’t explain why this product made me suspicious, but it did. It just seemed… gross to put YEAST in my food.

But I’ve seen in a lot of vegan recipes and everyone seems to be a convert, swearing by nutritional yeast’s “nutty, Parmesan-like” flavor, so I did some research and decided to give it a try. Apparently, it’s a perfect source of protein that’s packed with vitamins, especially B, which has proven to be super important to me for dealing with anxiety and depression.

And I have to say, while this recipe was good last time I made it, it was GREAT with the yeast. It really did give the dish a creamy, slightly nutty/cheesy taste, and the teenagers LOVED it. Plus, it was super easy, and I think it will even be good as a cold pasta salad in the summer. If you’re a vegetarian/vegan who likes to bring a dish to cookouts, parties, etc., this is definitely a candidate.

I only made a couple of changes; I used a few more tomatoes than is called for and I used pine nuts instead of almonds (I used almonds last time and it was delicious, but Andrew said they got stuck in his braces). Otherwise, it was perfect.

And check out Oh She Glows! Angela has some fantastic vegan recipes.

Pasta with Roasted Tomato Basil Pesto

Yield: 1 cup pesto

Ingredients:

• 9 large roma tomatoes, sliced in half lengthwise
• 1/2 cup almonds, toasted
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 cup tightly packed basil + more for garnish
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil + more for drizzling on tomatoes
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
• Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• Your desired amount of cooked Pasta

 

1. Preheat oven to 400F and line a baking sheet with parchment. Place sliced tomatoes on the sheet and drizzle with oil, salt, and pepper. Roast for about 1 hour and 10 mins at 400F. Watch closely during the last 15 minutes of roasting.

2. Reduce oven heat to 325F and toast almonds for 8-10 minutes. Add 1/3 cup into food processor and process until finely chopped. I left mine a bit chunky for texture. Remove and set aside.

3. With processor turned on, add 2 garlic cloves and let it whirl around until finely chopped. Now add in the basil and process until finely chopped.

4. Add in the oil, optional nutritional yeast, and 1.5 cups of roasted tomatoes (you will have tomatoes left over). Process until smooth. Pulse in 1/3 cup toasted almonds. Season generously with salt and pepper. I think I used about 1/2 tsp salt or a bit more.

5. Pour your desired amount of pesto over the cooked pasta and mix well. Chop the remaining roasted tomatoes and stir into pasta. Chop remaining almonds and Chiffonade the basil (see below).