When plain old tomato sauce has become a little too classic, only one option remains to spice up your pasta dish: pesto. Well, it's not the only option, but it's certainly a delicious one that'll have your guests in awe – and the minimal prep time involved makes it more than worth it. Amrita over at Crazy Vegan Kitchen has the perfect recipe for a conversation-starting meal that requires little to no effort.
Besides the 15 minutes needed to make this dish from start to finish, there's another exciting advantage to it if you're not a fan of using up a ton of pots and pans for your meals – the entire sauce's preparation just involves tossing all your ingredients into your food processor and letting it do the heavy lifting. Between the avocado, the cashew nuts and the sun-dried tomatoes, you'll get a sauce that tastes surprisingly like Bolognese, according to Amrita – but easier to make, and with its own delicious twist. Here's a full list of ingredients.
Advertisement
1/4 cashew nuts
1/2 avocado
1/2 cup loosely packed basil
1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes (oil packed)
2 tbsp reserved oil from sun-dried tomatoes
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tbsp water
1 tsp maple syrup
1/2 avocado
1/2 cup loosely packed basil
1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes (oil packed)
2 tbsp reserved oil from sun-dried tomatoes
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tbsp water
1 tsp maple syrup
Because of the recipe's extreme simplicity, it's very easy to substitute any of the ingredients with whatever you'd like your sauce to taste like. Because none of these ingredients need to be cooked beforehand, the pesto will be cold, so you're welcome to warm it briefly if you'd like, adding some leftover pasta water to prevent it from getting too dry. There's plenty of room for experimenting here, as you could also choose to cook whole ingredients on the side and add them to the finished product.
Advertisement
Check out Amrita's full recipe on her blog, and make sure to share with your friends and family!