#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.