Basil Pesto Zucchini Pasta
Cook time
Total time
Author: Mariko Sakata
Cuisine: raw food, raw vegan, gluten-free
Serves: 2
Ingredients
Basil Pesto (makes a little less than 1 cup of pesto)
- 2 cups basil leaves (tightly packed)
- ⅓ cup pine nuts
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- ½ teaspoon (level) salt
Zucchini Pasta
- 4 medium size zucchini (serves 2. Increase the amount for more servings as the pesto amount is worth 7-8 servings)
- A light drizzle of olive oil
- A pinch of salt
- Some basil leaves for garnish
- Some raw vegan parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast for topping
Raw Vegan Parmesan Cheese
- ¼ cup pine nuts
- 1½ Tablespoons nutritional yeast
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Basil Pesto
- Add all the ingredients except the olive oil into the food processor, and run it until chopped fine. Stop the food processor a few times and scrape down the sides.
- With the food processor running, pour in the olive oil and run it until it becomes a nice smooth pesto.
Zucchini Pasta
To make with a spiralizer:
- Fit your ⅛ inch spacing blade. Top and tail the zucchini, and place it onto the spiralizer and turn the handle to make the noodles.
- Chop it a few times so that the noodles aren't too long, and easier to eat.
- Transfer the noodles into a bowl and lightly drizzle some olive oil and a pinch of salt. Massage the zucchini pasta until it soften and set it aside until it releases water for about 2-3 minutes.
- Right before serving, ring the noodles out well.
To make with a mandoline slicer:
- Top and tail the zucchini, and slice the zucchini length wise.
- Stack the slices and cut them into fettuccine size noodles.
- Transfer the noodles into a bowl and lightly drizzle some olive oil and a pinch of salt. Massage the zucchini pasta until it softens and set it aside until it releases water for about 2-3 minutes.
- Right before serving, ring the noodles out well.
Assembly
- Toss the zucchini noodles with about 4 tablespoons of pesto. Adjust the amount of pesto you add to taste. Sprinkle some raw vegan Parmesan cheese, or if you don't have time to make it, just nutritional yeast, and garnish with a basil leaf.
Raw Vegan Parmesan Cheese
- Add the pine nuts into the food processor and pulse until it becomes Parmesan like granules.
- Put in the nutritional yeast and salt, and pulse several times to incorporate. Do not over process as the pine nuts will release too much oil.
- Store in an airtight container and keep in the refrigerator or freezer. Keeps for 1 month.
Notes
Basil pesto is traditionally made with a mortar & pestle. If you are going to try the mortar & pestle way, start with garlic, salt, nutritional yeast, then pine nuts, and add the basil leaves in several parts. Then finish it off by adding the olive oil in.
Nutritional yeast is not the same with baking yeast. Do not substitute with baking yeast! Your pesto will be ruined.
Once you toss the zucchini pasta with pesto, it starts to slowly release more water from the salt in the pesto, so it's important to ring out the noodles well right before you toss it with sauce.
Basil pesto tossed with zucchini pasta will keep for 2 day in the refrigerator but it does start releasing water, so I recommend not keeping it for too long.
How to store basil pesto:
You can either refrigerate or freeze pesto. If you refrigerate, it'll keep for 1 week, and if you freeze it, it'll last for 3-4 month.
To keep in the refrigerator, put the pesto in an airtight container like a glass jar, and pour in some olive oil until the pesto is completely submerged under the olive oil. This will prevent the pesto from turning color and going bad.
To keep in the freezer, put the pesto into the ice cube tray. Pour in the olive oil until the pesto is submerged under the olive oil, and put it in the freezer. Once the pesto is frozen, put the pesto cubes into a ziplock bag and store it in the freezer.
Nutritional yeast is not the same with baking yeast. Do not substitute with baking yeast! Your pesto will be ruined.
Once you toss the zucchini pasta with pesto, it starts to slowly release more water from the salt in the pesto, so it's important to ring out the noodles well right before you toss it with sauce.
Basil pesto tossed with zucchini pasta will keep for 2 day in the refrigerator but it does start releasing water, so I recommend not keeping it for too long.
How to store basil pesto:
You can either refrigerate or freeze pesto. If you refrigerate, it'll keep for 1 week, and if you freeze it, it'll last for 3-4 month.
To keep in the refrigerator, put the pesto in an airtight container like a glass jar, and pour in some olive oil until the pesto is completely submerged under the olive oil. This will prevent the pesto from turning color and going bad.
To keep in the freezer, put the pesto into the ice cube tray. Pour in the olive oil until the pesto is submerged under the olive oil, and put it in the freezer. Once the pesto is frozen, put the pesto cubes into a ziplock bag and store it in the freezer.
Recipe by Mariko Sakata | Raw Food and Plant-based Recipes at https://marikosakata.com/raw-vegan-basil-pesto-zucchini-pasta/