Easy Vegan Pesto & Pasta

A delicious and simple pesto. I recently tried making pesto in my mortar and pestle, and the consistency came out so good. But to make things easier you can also use a food processor which comes out super delicious! Pesto is one of the easier sauces to make vegan as you can easily replace the parmesan with nutritional yeast. Serve with some lemon zest and flaky salt and enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 2 cloves peeled garlic

• 2 tbsp pine nuts (you can also use walnuts or a different nut if you prefer)

• 1 cup packed basil, stems removed

• corse sea salt to taste

• ~2 tbsp nutritional yeast

• ~1.5 tbsp olive oil

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

• 8 ounces GF pasta of choice (save ~3 tbsp of pasta water)

• Optional: lemon zest, flaky salt, extra fresh basil for topping

Directions:

Mortar and Pestle:

1. Boil the pasta according to the box directions and save roughly 3 tbsp of pasta water.

2. If you are using a mortar and pestle, start by crushing the garlic until it is in small chunks. Add the pine nuts and crush until it is close to a paste.

3. Add in half of the basil with some sea salt (the sea salt helps the basil break down). Crush until it is in small pieces and then add the remaining basil and sea salt and crush until smooth.

4. Mash in the nutritional yeast. Mix in the olive oil and lemon juice. In a pasta bowl, add the pesto and stir in the pasta and pasta water. Add more pasta water or olive oil if the sauce is too thick or until it is a consistency you prefer. Serve with some lemon zest, flaky salt and extra fresh basil if you would like and enjoy!

Food Processor:

1. Boil the pasta according to box directions and save roughly 3 tbsp of pasta water.

2. Add the garlic, pine nuts, basil, salt, and nutritional yeast into the food processor. Blend until it creates a sticky paste.

3. While the food processor is running, slowly poor in the olive oil and lemon juice and blend until the pesto is smooth.

4. Mix the pesto with the pasta and pasta water in a serving bowl. Add more pasta water as needed to reach the sauce consistency you would like.

5. Serve with some lemon zest, flaky salt and extra fresh basil if you would like and enjoy!