TWO PESTO RECIPES!
Pesto
1/3 cup walnuts [walnuts are the pine-nut-on-a-budget]
3 garlic cloves, peeled
3 cups basil leaves (try thai basil for a lovely rich fragrance)
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (drizzle in as the other ingreds blend in)
up to 1/2 tsp salt, to taste
1/3 cup shredded romano cheese (romano is the parmesan-on-a-budget)
Process ingredients in a food processor or blend in a blender until finely minced. Feel free to make this traditional pesto in large batches, because it freezes well for up to 3 months or refrigerate for up to 5 days! I freeze mine in ice cube trays, then pop the cubes into ziploc bags.
ERIC’S VEGAN PESTO SAUCE
This feeds six to eight hearty individuals, half recipe for smaller families.
2 pounds pasta noodles of your choice. I suggest a spiral type like fusilli ,torchietti, maybe even radiatore. These will store the flavor in the folds of the noodle. If someone is a mostly raw eater spiralized cucumber would work fine as noodles also.
For pesto sauce:
Put following in food processor.
(1) gallon bag loosely stuffed with basil leaves.
1/2 pound of walnuts
(1) package (varies 12-14oz.) of firm silken lite tofu
(1) juice of one lemon
(4) Tbsp. Nutritional Yeast
1/4 cup water (add water last if the pesto is very thick, in my case water was necessary)
Cracked pepper to taste
Salt (or salt sub) to taste.
*Pulse Food processor until desired consistency is reached, you may need to use a rubber spatula to get some stubborn bits off the side into the fray of the spinning blades. The consistency I look for is creamy and thick yet not form-able.
We took this immediately from the food processor and mixed with the hot noodles, we used the fusilli (spiral) type because I was sure they fill up with tiny bits and pieces of creamy walnut and basil, this worked very well. Everyone ate until they were full and beyond.