Pasta, the favourite dish of many children. Both ‘the red’ and ‘the green’ sauce do well with koters and with their parents, because besides being super tasty for everyone, it is also quick on the table. Ideal recipe on a busy weekday. This time, we show you how to make a quick vegan pasta pesto that you can put lots of vegetables in. Don't let them hear it, you can also hide a lot of vegetables in our homemade sauce for the difficult eaters. That green camouflages well.
Feast with this vegan pasta pesto
This vegan pasta pesto is one of the favourites at our house and every time I wonder if I have made enough. To hide vegetables in a pesto sauce, I choose white or green vegetables so that the sauce stays nice and green and appealing. Sometimes that's broccoli, other times fennel or fresh spinach. Much, much basil always does well with my children too. And you can prepare this sauce with any kind of pasta: from simple penne to stuffed ravioli, it's all equally delicious. Although wholemeal spaghetti is worth a separate mention: top combo with this sauce too. Wholemeal pasta is also in the Disk of Five (white pasta does not). I went for stuffed ravioli as we still had this lying around.
You can hide a lot of vegetables in this delicious vegan pasta pesto dish.
Pesto is often not vegetarian
‘Why isn't pesto actually vegan?’ I get this very often. Well, pesto contains Parmesan cheese. The rennet found in cheese is usually extracted from the stomach of a dead calf. So traditional green pesto is not exactly vegan, not even completely vegetarian in other words. Since I don't approve of animal rennet being used for my food, I buy (or make) my green pesto vegan. Fortunately, you can get pesto vegan more and more easily in supermarkets these days. The vegan pasta from Costa Ligure is a tip, but there is much more on offer. Check out this list from Bonus Vegan. Making your own is, of course, the tastiest option!
Ta-da: vegan pesto is very easy to make yourself!
Vegan pesto can, of course, be very well made yourself. This takes a little more time, but with a hand blender or food processor it is a snap. Check out the recipe here!
Recipe: vegan pasta pesto
Kitchenware
- saucepan
- food processor
Ingredients
- fresh vegetables (broccoli, fennel and/or spinach are tasty)
- 750 gr fresh pasta (Any pasta will do such as penne, spaghetti or ravioli)
- vegan balls
- optional: paprika, in pieces
- 2 toe garlic
- 3 spring onions, dotted
- 1 el Italian herbs
- paprika powder as desired
- 1 el oregano
- optional: 1 leek, in half rings
- 2 hands cashew nuts, soaked in hot water
- 3 el vegan green pesto
- 1 el juice of one lemon
- generous handful of fresh basil
- dash of olive oil
- about 10 tbsp cooking liquid (from broccoli/fennel)
- 2 el edelgist flakes / vegan cheese grater
Instructions
- Cook/steam the vegetables al dente (I chose fennel and broccoli).
- Sauté the onion (and leek, if necessary) with the Italian herbs and paprika.
- Briefly fry the pre-cooked vegetables, garlic and oregano.
- Put this with the pre-processed cashews, green pesto, lemon juice, basil, olive oil, cooking liquid and the edelgist flakes/ vegan cheese grater in a food processor or blender and blend to a creamy sauce. Put into a pan and season with salt and pepper.
- Cook the ravioli according to the instructions on the packet.
- Fry up the meatballs (and possibly also the paprika if you want to add it).
- Add ravioli to the sauce, delicious with the vegan balls, sautéed pepper pieces and extra vegan cheese grater.
More child-friendly recipes from thegreenlist.nl
- For example, everyone likes cauliflower: crispy vegan cauliflower nuggets.
- Vegetables left over? Then definitely try this waste-me-not pizza with homemade pizza dough agree.
- Fond of pasta? Check out our recipe for the tastiest vegan spaghetti bolognese here.
- Fancy pancakes? This is how to make the easiest vegan pancakes!
Photo credits: Anne van Twillert.
