BASIL-WALNUT PESTO + MUSHROOMS, JALAPENO & SUN-DRIED TOMATOES
Over the weekend, I met up with a friend of mine in Old Town Pasadena and we had a really nice lunch at a great little Italian restaurant on Colorado Blvd, called Mi Piace.
I was so inspired by the basil-walnut pesto dish that my friend had and was inspired to recreate the recipe at home. This home cooked dish came out pretty close to the restaurants. The restaurants had a lot more olive oil in the pesto, but I have cut it down to a bare minimum here. Of course, feel free to add a tad more if you like.
I loved the combination of the vegetables, each adding their own characteristics. The sun-dried tomatoes add sweetness, while the jalapenos add spiciness and the mushrooms lend a nice meatiness.
Nice to know I can make it anytime I want without having to go anywhere. Although, I still love getting out to restaurants to see what’s on the menu and spend time with friends and family, always a pleasure!
How To Make Basil-Walnut Pesto
The basil-walnut pesto is as simple as it gets. Place the fresh basil, walnuts, garlic and olive oil, lemon, salt & pepper in a food processor and blend.
Simple, quick and flavorful!
Pasta & Veggies
Use your favorite pasta. If following a gluten free diet, use rice or quinoa pasta.
For the mushrooms, jalapeno and sun-dried tomatoes, simply heat a little olive oil over medium heat, saute a few minutes and done!
Mix the pasta with the pesto and toss in the veggies.
A comforting, quick and easy meal!
BASIL-WALNUT PESTO + MUSHROOMS, JALAPENO & SUN-DRIED TOMATOES
This flavorful pasta & pesto dish is quick and easy, ready in about 25 minutes!
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 10 min
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: Serves 3
- Category: Entree, Condiment
- Cuisine: Vegan
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, softened
- 8 oz. package mushrooms, sliced
- 2 jalapenos, sliced and seeds discarded
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 8 oz. pasta of choice
- almond parmesan, for topping
Walnut Basil Pesto
- 2 cups basil, packed
- 1/2 cup walnuts
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoon lemon
- 3 or 4 garlic cloves
- himalayan salt & pepper to taste (I used white pepper)
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast, optional*
Instructions
Start with your pesto by combining ingredients in food processor, process until blended and creamy, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed. Set aside.
Cook pasta according to package, drain and return to pot you cooked it in. Add a small amount of oil and toss to coat.
In saute pan heat oil over medium, saute mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes and jalapeno for 4 – 5 minutes or until mushrooms are tender. It should be smelling pretty delicious about now! Remove from heat.
Toss pasta with pesto. Place pasta on individual serving dishes and top with sauteed vegetables, add salt and pepper to taste. Top with almond parmesan for even more flavor.
Serves 2 – 3
NOTES:
I didn’t use the nutritional yeast in my recipe, it’s a good healthy option for those seeking to replace the cheese flavor in other pesto recipes. Add slowly until you find the amount you like.
Use as much of the sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms and jalapeno pepper as you like.
Use rice or quinoa pasta to make this gluten free.
Im no vegnista (and no offense to anyone) but I had the aboove ingredients lurking in my fridge and taking up space! So I braised the mushroom and chopped up sundried tomato in some garlic butter with salt and pepper! I topped it on a stale croissant and buttered it with the basil pesto and some hard cheese!
I then popped it in a panini toaster with some generous butter on top!! My oh My!!
Made this tonight with brown rice pasta and omitted the sun-dried tomatoes and it was AMAZING!!!! Thank you for the fab recipe!
Great! This was fab…glad you loved it too. Mine was on rice pasta also. Great minds think alike. Thank you so much for stopping to share! Cheers :)