#168 The Case of Spaghetti in a Beet Pesto Sauce

Beets are sweet!

4 beets (2 cups total volume)
drizzle of olive oil plus 1/4 cup for later
enough whole-wheat spaghetti for two people
enough regular spaghetti for two
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup walnuts, toasted in oven at 350ºF for 10 min.
salt
pepper
I/4 teaspoon chilli pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 400ºF.

Trim the beets. Place on foil or in a casserole dish and drizzle with olive oil. Wrap or cover, and roast for 1 hour. Let cool.

Cook the spaghetti (if your whole-wheat pasta is not a tiny bit thinner than your regular pasta, add the whole-wheat pasta to the pot first, bring back to a boil and cook for 1 min. before adding the regular pasta).

In the meantime, peel and chop the roasted beets into large pieces and pulse them in a blender with the garlic, toasted walnuts and salt to taste. Add the 1/4 cup olive oil and pulse again. Check seasoning.

Drain the pasta and toss with the pesto. Twirl onto plates using tongs. Grind pepper on top to taste. Sprinkle with the chilli pepper flakes.

Serves 4.

♥ Becki

PS I have minced the garlic cloves and toasted walnuts by hand, grated the roasted beets with a box grater into a bowl, then stirred all the pesto ingredients together. It adds minutes to the prep time, it's messier, for sure, but it's equally heavenly.

Comments

The Case of Vegetarian Detective in Italy

B uon giorno! I feel like a snob saying, "I'm just back from Italy." That's me: jetsetter. Yeah, right! But wow...Italy! I could talk up a storm, and I surely will as I adjust to being back here, six time zones from magnificent Italia . I often ask people who've just travelled what was their favourite part of their trip. If I ask the same of myself, my answer is seeing Michelangelo's sculptures. His Pietà and The Statue of David literally moved me to tears. I just can't believe I saw "him" in person! So...our plane from Toronto was delayed six hours and we missed the first day of activities, but we still visited Rome, Montecatini, Siena, San Gimignano, Pisa, Vinci, Florence, Cinque Terre and Assisi. Quite the agenda for ten days, including the two flight days, wouldn't you say? But Trafalgar made it work. I would go on a Trafalgar trip again in a heartbeat. Things I learned in Italy: In the regions we ...

#271 The Case of Pulau

P art of the fun of eating this dish is recovering and setting aside a "treasure" of whole bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, cloves and cardamom pods. 4 tablespoons vegan butter 2 bay leaves 2 cinnamon sticks 8 cloves 5 green cardamom pods 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds 2 red onions, thinly sliced salt pepper 1 chilli, sliced 1 inch ginger, minced 2 garlic cloves, sliced 4 mint sprigs, leaves chopped 4 cilantro sprigs, chopped 14-oz-can peas, drained 1/2 cup roasted salted cashews, chopped 2-1/2 cups water 2 cups basmati rice, soaked for 20 min. then drained well vegan yogurt Over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, cloves, cardamom pods and cumin seeds and cook, stirring until they begin to sizzle, about 30 seconds. Add the onions. Season generously with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring until they start to turn golden, about 10 min. Add the chilli and cook until fragrant, about 2 min. Add the ginger and garlic and cook, stir...

#262 The Case of Lasagna

T he most important thing about making Lasagna is to NOT use ready-to-bake noodles. They will never, never, never, ever turn scrumptiously fork tender. Please note that this recipe is still a fast, easy version of Lasagna. If you're super full of love and energy, sub in homemade Anne's Favourite Spaghetti with Neat Sauce for the first 2 ingredients. 1 340g pack plant-based ground 24-oz jar of your favourite purchased pasta sauce 20 lasagna noodles, cooked until al dente, as usual, but with a tablespoon of olive oil added to the water to prevent sticking vegan Parmesan to grate on top Preheat oven to 375ºF. Sauté the plant-based ground over medium heat, stirring frequently to avoid burning, for 4 min. Stir in the pasta sauce. Spread some of the sauce over the bottom of 2 loaf pans. Lay down the first noodle, followed by a layer of sauce then another noodle... Repeat using all of the noodles and finishing with a last, generous portion of sauce. ...

Vegetarian Detective

Search This Blog