TOMATO, ALMOND & BASIL PESTO PASTA

This deliciously quick pesto pasta recipe is sadly not one of my own. My favourite cooking magazine, Feast, published this recipe in its March 2015 edition. Unfortunately, the magazine is no longer in business. I was devastated to hear of this, as I learnt so much of what I know about cooking through pouring over my monthly Feast fix. Over the 30 editions of the magazine in my possession, the eating traditions and recipes of almost every single culture of the world was brought to light. I intend to treasure this incredible magazine through replicating its diverse recipes every so often on my blog. Thankyou for all you taught me Feast magazine, you truly instilled in me a deep love and respect for good food. 

Ingredients

• 400g gluten-free pasta (any type of pasta, however spaghetti works well)
• 60g almonds, roughly chopped
• 400g tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 1 cup densely packed basil, roughly chopped
• 50g feta
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley or chives (chives must be roughly chopped)
• 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Cooking 

1. Bring a large saucepan of boiling and lightly salted water to the boil. Once boiled add the pasta and cook until pasta is to your liking. Drain pasta in a colander over cold running water, keeping 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid. 

2. Meanwhile, put all the remaining ingredients in a food processor and process until the ingredients make a textured paste. 

3. Return the pasta to the saucepan over low heat and pour in the reserved cooking liquid. Add the paste and stir well to combine. Season with ground black pepper and serve with extra basil leaves, if desired. 

Serves / 4 

Total Preparation time / 10 minutes 

Total Cooking time / 15 minutes 

x Emily 

PUMPKIN SOUP with WALNUT PESTO

One of the reasons that I welcome Autumn with open arms into my life is that it brings with it such pleasant food. Hearty meats, jam-packed salads and steaming hot soups come to mind when I think of the beautiful fall breezes and the trees delicately shedding their leaves. I may be a strange person in that I have been eaten soup all through February and some of January. Miso and rice noodle soup have been the convenient choice over these summery months, as I did not desire slaving over a hot stove to make homemade soup. With this recent deluge of rain I found myself cooking two soups last week. This is the first one, a simple pumpkin soup with sage and cannellini beans, adapted from ‘200 Veggie Feasts’ by Louise Pickford.

INGREDIENTS

Pumpkin Soup

• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 large brown onion, finely chopped
• 1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh sage
• 1 kilogram kent pumpkin, seeds and skin removed & chopped into small pieces
• 400g tin cannellini beans, washed & drained
• 1 litre vegetable stock, preferably Massel 

Walnut Pesto

• 40g walnuts, chopped
• 2 spring onions, finely chopped & trimmed
• 1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
• a large handful of rocket leaves, washed 
• 3 tablespoons olive oil 

COOKING 

1. Heat the coconut oil in a large saucepan over low heat, adding onion, garlic and sage. Stir often for 4-5 minutes or until onion is soft. Add the pumpkin pieces and beans and continue to stir for 1 minute. Add stock and a pinch of sea salt & ground black pepper. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, covered, for 30 minutes or until the pumpkin is soft. 

2. Meanwhile, make pesto by combining the walnuts, spring onions, garlic and rocket in a food processor. Process on high for just a few seconds, until ingredients are finely chopped. With the motor running, add in the olive oil 1 tablespoon at a time. Remove pesto from processor and season with sea salt & ground black pepper. Set pesto aside and wash food processor for step 3, unless you have a spare food processor or blender on hand. 

3. Once pumpkin is tender, pour the soup into a clean food processor or blender and process/blend until smooth. Return soup to the saucepan, season again if need be and heat through. 

Serve the soup in warmed bowls, topped with a spoonful or two of the walnut pesto. 

Serves / 6

Total Preparation time / 20 minutes 

Total Cooking time / 45 minutes 

x Emily 

EGGPLANT PARMIGIANA

It’s so funny how much food and the art of cooking can teach you, if you are open to it. For example, I used to despise eggplant. Would not touch the stuff. I thought the texture was slimy, unappealing and the seeds creeped me out. A few weeks ago, I was leafing through my November issue of Feast magazine and I came across 4 eggplant recipes, each photo of the finished product looking more delectable than the previous one. An Eggplant Parmigiana or Melanzane alla parmigiana caught my eye. The recipe looked so filling and satisfying, without including any meat and only a handful of ingredients. Hence my aversion to eggplant was over. And I learnt a very valuable lesson, which I am sure you are all simply dying to hear. Never judge a vegetable by its cover (or slimy interior, in this case). How can I say that I loath something that I have never tried, or tried only once several years ago? My taste buds have matured, my perspectives have changed, but it appears that my ability to judge without knowing all the facts has not. So there you have it, another life-lesson that cooking has provided me with.

(Below is my adapted gluten-free, dairy-free and low-fat version of Feast's Eggplant Parmigiana. The homemade pesto is added for more flavour and as an example for another use). 

INGREDIENTS


Eggplant Parmigiana 

• 1- 1.1 kg eggplants (2 large or 3 medium), cut widthwise into 1.5cm slices (the widest slices can be cut into 1/2). 
• 2/3 cup gluten-free plain flour
• 700ml tomato passata
• 75g sheep's pecorino cheese, finely grated
• sea salt 
• a handful of basil leaves 
• coconut oil 

Pesto 

• 1 large bunch basil leaves, washed & stems removed
• 1/4 cup raw and unsalted cashews
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• sea salt

COOKING 

1. Toss eggplant slices with 2 teaspoons sea salt in a large bowl. Stand for 30 minutes, then rinse eggplant and pat dry with paper towel or a clean tea-towel. 

2. Meanwhile, place basil leaves, cashews, garlic, pinch of sea salt and lime juice in a food processor. Process on medium speed until well mixed. Add 1 teaspoon olive oil at a time until you have used 2 tablespoons. When the oil has been combined, remove pesto from the processor and let sit until required in step 4. 

3. Preheat a fan-force oven to 200 degrees celsius. Lightly grease a deep baking dish with coconut oil. Place one-quarter of the eggplant slices in a large bowl and cover with one-quarter of the flour, shaking off the excess. Heat 1 tablespoon coconut oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Cook the flour-covered eggplant slices for 3 minutes each side or until golden. Remove from heat and drain on a paper towel. Repeat with the remaining eggplant, flour and oil. 

4. Place one-third of the cooked eggplant in the base of the dish, then top with one-third of the passata, one-third of the pecorino cheese and one-third of the homemade pesto. Repeat this process for the next two layers until all eggplant, passata, pecorino and pesto is used up. 

5. Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until the eggplant is golden and the sauce is bubbly. (Note - some oven's may require that the parmigiana be cooked for 45 minutes, some for only 35 minutes). Sprinkle fresh basil and a touch more grated pecorino cheese over the parmigiana, if desired. Serve warm. 

Serves / 4 - 6 
Total Preparation time / 40-45 minutes (including 30 mins standing time for the eggplant & the time taken to make the pesto)
Total Cooking time / 1 hr 10 minutes / 1 hr 15 minutes 

x E

PUMPKIN PASTA WITH PESTO, SPINACH & RED ONION

Winter to me means hearty winter vegetables. Pumpkin, sweet potato, onions, leeks, regular potatoes all make this list. Before I made this dish on Sunday night, I don’t think I had eaten pumpkin since last winter and I had forgotten how flavoursome it is, especially on chilly nights. The spinach and red onion addition was just a way to get more vegetables into the pasta. As for the pesto, I had a bunch of basil to use up that was looking rather wilted. You can certainly serve this dish without pesto, in fact, it will be much better (calorie wise) for you! 

INGREDIENTS

Pasta 

• 500g Gluten-free pasta 
• 2 tablespoons roasted pine nuts (can dry-fry in a frying pan over medium heat until golden brown)
• a generous handful of baby spinach leaves, washed 
• 400g pumpkin, cut into 2cm pieces 
• 1/2 a red onion, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon grape seed oil 
• sea salt & pepper

COOKING 

1. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add a pinch of salt and pasta and stir occasionally for 10-12 minutes or until the pasta is tender. Drain well with cold water. 

2. Meanwhile, place the cut pumpkin on a large plate and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the microwave on high for 7 minutes or until pumpkin is very tender. Remove and let cool. 

3. Heat grape seed oil in a small frying pan over medium-low heat and swirl to coat. Add garlic and red onion and stir occasionally for 2 minutes, until onion is soft and garlic is browned. Return heat to low and add spinach leaves and cook for 1 minute or until leaves are wilted. Remove from heat. 

4. Place the cooked pasta in a large serving bowl. Place the cooked pumpkin and spinach mixture on top. Sprinkle salt & pepper over the top. Pour pesto over the top if you wish. 

Homemade Pesto 

• a bunch of fresh basil 
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts
• 1/8- 1/4 cup olive or grape seed oil
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• sea salt
• a blender or food processor
• a mortal & pestle 

COOKING

1. Place the garlic and pine nuts in a mortal & pestle and crush into a paste. (This should only take a few seconds. You can perform this step with a blender if you wish, I just find that using the former makes a better paste). 

2. Place basil leaves in a blender/food processor and gradually add 1/8-1/4 cup oil. This process may take around 5 minutes, as we are using less oil that typically used to make pesto. If you can, try grape seed oil as the flavour is very different to using olive oil. Add salt to the basil and continue to blend/process until pesto is smooth. 

Serves / 4 

Total Preparation time / 15 minutes (20-25 with pesto)

Total Cooking time / 25 minutes (35 with pesto)

x E