Kale Pesto & Parmesan

Ready to try the most delicious & healthy pesto pasta you've ever had? Good, then let's get started...

This is basically two recipes: vegan kale pesto, and a vegan alternative to parmesan.

Both are awesome. And pretty damn simple.

To make it extra healthy and awesome, I substituted the pasta itself for 'vegetable spaghetti'. I used a julienne peeler (but I'm sure a spiraliser would be even better) to cut carrots & courgettes into fine strips, then steamed them for a few minutes.

Kale Pesto

Finding a good vegan pesto can be difficult, but this is not just good. It's amazing. Really.
Using the kale added extra flavour & nutrition. Or, as my partner put it, made it taste 'like pesto, but better'.

You'll need:

• 150g curly kale
• large handful fresh basil
• 4 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
• juice of half a lemon
• 4 Tablespoons (Tbsp.) oil (ideally extra virgin olive oil)
• 1 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
• handful whole almonds
• 1/4 teaspoon (tsp.) salt

1. Steam the kale for a few minutes. If you don't have a steamer, microwave or boil it for 1 minute. Drain & put to one side.

2. Put the almonds in a blender & pulse until they become coarse grains.

3. Add all the other ingredients to the blender. Blend thoroughly, stopping to stir intermittently. If your blender struggles with this, add a tablespoon of water.

4. That's it (told you it was simple).

Parmesan

This is similarly delicious, and even simpler. Plus, it takes no more than a few minutes to make.

This makes a good cupful or so, so store leftovers in a sealed tub at room temperature.
Perfect for sprinkling generously over any pasta dish!

You'll need:

• 1 Tbsp. cashews
• 3 Tbsp. almonds
• 2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
• 1/4 tsp. mustard powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt.

1. Throw it all in the blender & pulse until it resembles fine breadcrumbs....Done. Ta-da!

Jen x