Cilantro Pesto Pasta
 
 
Author:
Recipe type: Dinner
Ingredients
  • ½ cup cashew nuts
  • 1 cup cilantro, measured after cleaning and chopping
  • ½ cup + 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • A small piece ginger root
  • 2 tsp lemon juice
  • 1 jalapeño or any variety green chilli
  • 1 pinch sugar
  • Salt and black pepper to taste
  • 2 cups mixed vegetables, cut into thin long pieces (any combination of peppers, squash, broccoli florets, mushrooms, egg plant, etc)
  • ½ lb spaghetti
Directions
  1. Soak the cashew nuts in sufficient water to submerge for an hour. (If you do not have the time to soak the cashew, you can as well use pine nuts which do not need to be soaked.)
  2. Pick only the leaves and tender stalks of cilantro and chop.
  3. Remove the skins of garlic and ginger.
  4. Carefully remove the stem and seeds of the jalapeno.
  5. In the blender, add the nuts, cilantro, garlic, ginger, jalapeno, lemon juice, and sugar, and blend well. Add salt and black pepper to taste. When blended into a paste, drizzle the olive oil in a thin stream while the blender is still running. When all the oil is used up, switch off the blender and set the pesto sauce aside in a container.
  6. Cut the vegetables into long thin strips.
  7. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan, on high heat. When the oil is hot, add the vegetables and stir fry for three minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste and remove from heat.
  8. Add some salt to a pot of water and bring to boil. Add the spaghetti and cook uncovered. After 8 minutes, check for doneness. When you can bite into a strand of spaghetti easily, but there is a bit of resistance at the center, it is done enough. Drain the water off the pasta and transfer the pasta to a largish dish. Drizzle one tablespoon of olive oil over the pasta and shake together to coat.
  9. Add the stir fired vegetables to the pasta. Drizzle the pesto sauce over the pasta and vegetables and carefully mix together.
  10. Serve hot with extra pesto sauce on the side.
Recipe by Pepper Route at https://pepperroute.com/cilantro-pesto-pasta/