How to Make Pesto for Pasta Puttanesca
 
When I began in earnest to eat Vegan, I knew I needed some specialized cooking classes. Â I have taken personal classes from a Vegan Chef in Oregon and had taken classes from Bob’s Red Mill. Â Yes Bob’s Red Mill offers vegan cooking classes, you just have to be lucky enough to be there at the right time!
My sister had taken me to a fabulous restaurant in Oregon called the Blossoming Lotus.  WOW is that an epicurean delight! I told my sister if I ever could learn to cook Vegan like that I’d be in Heaven!  Well the chef teaches classes all over the US and abroad!  So I took classes from the Chef in Hawaii…what a treat.  I am sharing one of  the recipes we learned with my changes.  My husband and son think this is the best meal I have EVER made…EVER!   So I hope you enjoy it.  It has a fresh pesto sauce that is dairy free and what better time than summer to be able to get fresh basil.
And of course I couldn’t make this fabulous Pesto without a high powered blender, and my choice of blenders is Blendtec! Please check my Blendtec Review HERE for more on why I chose Blendtec!  Cooking with a high powered blender has revolutionized the way I cook!
How to Make Pesto for Pasta Puttanesca
How to Make Pesto for Pasta Puttanesca
Ingredients
- Ingredients needed for Pesto Sauce:
- 2 1/2 cups basil
- 3/4 cups olive oil
- 1/2 cup pine nuts or macadamia nuts
- 3 Tb lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 1 Tb garlic minced
- 2 tsp gluten free soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- pinch of cayenne
- 1/3 cup Nutritional Yeast Flakes
- Ingredients for the Pasta Puttanesca
- Noodles: For the Raw Version use 4 Medium zucchini shredded finely OR
- I use bean threads softened in hot water
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2/3 cup pitted olives diced
- 2 large tomatoes chopped (2 cups)
- 2 cucumbers chopped (2 cups)
- 1/2 cup italian parsley minced
- 1/2 cup chiffonade basil
- 2 tsp fresh thyme minced
- 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
- 2 tsp capers
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 3 tbsp pine nuts toasted
Instructions
- Putting it all Together for the Pesto Sauce:
- Put all ingredients into blender and blend until very smooth!
- Putting it all Together for the Pasta Puttanesca
- Mix all the ingredients for the Puttanesca EXCEPT for the pasta noodles and pinenuts.
- Divide the noodles amongst four plates and top noodles ( zuccini for raw or pasta noodles of choice) with PESTO then spoon on the Puttanesca. Garnish with pine nuts as desired on top.
I love pesto. I am excited to grown an abundance of basil this year.
This is delicious. I have hard time growing Basil…:(
This sounds absolutely wonderful… if it is even half as fresh tasting as I’d imagine it to be, it is a win win!! We are still hanging on to a bit of summer here in Texas, and my garden is still crazy with basil and zucc’s…so I think I’m going to check this out… thank you so much for the recipe, and the great photos ( those are always a help! I love recipes online, but i miss cookbooks, so the pics make it easier…lol)
i see recipes like this all over, I just can’t get myself to try it though… is it really that good? I guess i just need to suck it up and try it!
Sounds very yummy!