Orecchiette with vegetable pesto (vegan)
Simple, creamy pesto made from Mediterranean vegetables with pasta and fresh marjoram – a piece of Italy on your plate. Perfect, if you have no time to cook!
You are searching for a quick & easy recipe?
Then this dish is just right: it’s prepared in only 20 minutes. The only steps of the recipe are cooking the pasta, sautéing the vegetables and blending the pesto. Plus, you only need simple ingredients you already have at home, and this recipe is also great for cooking beginners!
This dish is perfect for a quick lunch or dinner when you don’t feel like cooking. Best of all, it tastes delicious with a hint of Italy that reminds you of the Mediterranean paradise. At the same time, you’re also eating lots of veggies without even realizing it; perfect for sneaking healthy vitamins onto (your kids’) plates.
Make your own vegan pesto
To make your own pesto, it doesn’t take much time or effort. All ingredients are simply placed in a blender and blended until creamy. Depending on your preference, you can add more or less olive oil for creaminess. The ingredients can vary a lot, creating many different pesto flavours. For example, you can make a pesto of sun-dried tomatoes & almonds or a pesto of carrot greens & pumpkin seeds. You can let your creativity run wild here! The basic ingredients:
- herbs, leafy vegetables, olives, dried tomatoes, veggies are the basis for each pesto
- garlic cloves, salt and pepper to taste
- olive oil to mix the pesto nice and creamy
- nutritional yeast replaces the spicy taste of parmesan
- lemon juice for freshness and a pleasant acidity
- nuts and seeds of your choice for that certain crunch and light crispness
Healthy pesto with vegetables
I love pesto. And I could eat it every day with many different foods. The tangy flavour and freshness of the pesto simply makes every dish even more aromatic!
And in addition, pesto is healthy: lots of leafy greens or herbs, healthy fats from the nuts and olive oil, and all just fresh ingredients. That’s why I love trying out lots of new pesto creations and experimenting with them. And what’s a better way than to hide fresh veggies packed with vitamins in a creamy, flavorful pesto!
A piece of Italy on your plate
The Mediterranean vegetables, freshly pressed olive oil, the scent of fresh marjoram and sunflower seeds are reminiscent of warm days in Italy. And to go with it: the ‘orecchiette’ shaped pasta, which comes from Puglia in the south of Italy and is still handmade there nowadays according to tradition.
If you make the recipe, feel free to give me a feedback or write a comment on how it turned out. And if you share your homemade dish with your friends on social media, I would be very grateful when you link me (Instagram @flavour. dreams) and set the hashtag #flavourdreams. Of course I am always available for questions. Enjoy to try the recipe!
Orecchiette with vegetable pesto (vegan)
Ingredients
- 320-400 g vegan 'orecchiette' shaped pasta
- ½ onion
- 150 g red or yellow bell pepper
- 100 g eggplant
- 100 g zucchini
- 1 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- salt and pepper
- 1 garlic clove
- juice of ½ a lemon
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 30 g nutritional yeast
- 50 g sunflower seeds
- 3 branches marjoram
Instructions
- Boil the orecchiette in enough salt water according to the package.
- Wash the onion, bell peppers, eggplant and zucchini and cut roughly into big pieces.
- In a pan fry the onions with olive oil for 3 minutes, then add the remaining vegetables, season with salt and pepper and let it roast for 10 minutes, so that everything is browned and cooked. If necessary, you can add some water to the pan to prevent burning.
- Then put the fried vegetables in a blender and add the clove of garlic, lemon juice, tomato paste, nutritional yeast, sunflower seeds and 2 branches of marjoram (only the leaves). Blend everything for 30-60 seconds to create a creamy pesto, but it may still contain a few pieces. Taste the pesto and season with salt and pepper if necessary.
- Drain the orecchiette (keep 200ml of the boiling water) and mix them with the pesto. If you like it creamier and a little runnier, you can add some of the cooking water and stir it in well.
- Serve the orecchiette in Mediterranean vegetable pesto and garnish with a little olive oil and marjoram.
- The pesto will keep in the refrigerator for about 3-4 days.
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