Happy St. Patricks Day with Pesto Courgetti

Happy St. Patricks Day with Pesto Courgetti

This week has been better! Not that I’ve got much done though! But at least I’ve had a bit of a rest and restored my energy! 🙂 As promised, I’m actually managing to post twice this week! 😀

Today is St. Patricks Day – not that we celebrate it, but it is becoming more popular here in the UK. St. Patrick was the patron saint of Ireland and 17th March is the date of his death. In Ireland this day is a Public Holiday and people celebrate by remembering and enjoying all things Irish! The ‘Shamrock’ a young sprig of the clover plant was said to have been used as a metaphor by St. Patrick in explaining the Holy Trinity of his Christian religion. Today, the green Shamrock is a well recognised and widely used symbol of Ireland – I am sure today especially you will see a few Shamrocks posted around the web – or if you’re out tonight – you might see some St. Patrick day celebrations!

The past week, I’ve been trying to include more raw food in my diet – mainly because I was so exhausted that I just needed an instant boost without taking a load of pills! 😀 It definitely worked – I even managed to get out in the garden and pull up a few weeds in preparation for the growing season… oh what to grow this year!? Lots more greens I think – spinach, kale and rocket maybe? Oops! Sidetracked – back to this recipe!

You must have fresh basil, but the other ingredients can be swapped for whatever you have! For example if you really don’t like courgette, use carrot instead or if you really must – just regular spaghetti! 🙂 The spiralising is important! but if you don’t have a fantastic gadget for this, just slice your veg into long thin strips! 🙂 Then, if you don’t have pine nuts, use sunflower seeds or even almonds. You can exclude the nutritional yeast if you don’t have it – add a finely grated (vegan) cheese instead! This is a delicious pesto which you can stir through noodles, spread in a sandwich or use as a dip… yumyum!

Pesto Courgetti (Vegan & Free-From)

Servings: 1-2
Time: 5-10 mins
Difficulty: easy
Print

Gather

2 loose packed cups of fresh basil
2 tablespoons pine nuts
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
pinch garlic granules
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
A sprinkle of red chili flakes (or a few more if you like it hot)!
A splash of water or plant based milk (I used unsweetened carton coconut)
Salt to taste (I used Maldon sea salt)
1-3 cups of washed baby spinach
2-3 medium courgettes spiralised

Prepare

Put the basil, pine nuts, nutritional yeast, garlic, pepper and chili in a small processor and blitz to break down. Add liquid a bit at a time to loosen the mixture. Add salt and adjust seasoning to taste. If you require a greater quantity of sauce you can add some spinach to the mixture without changing the taste too much (I added 1 cup).
Raw version: Put your noodles and spinach on a plate, pour the pesto over and gently mix together. Scatter pine nuts over for extra protein.
Cooked version: Heat a sliver of oil in a non stick pan and add the courgette noodles – stir fry for one minute then add the spinach. When the spinach has wilted, add the pesto and heat through. Serve with toasted pine nuts for extra crunch.
Enjoy!

Serve & Store

Serve raw or cooked just as it is.
Add extra vegetable noodles – carrots or butternut squash work well.
Serve the pesto as a dip with crudités (carrots, peppers, celery, cucumber, radishes)
I would make the pesto fresh as it’s so easy, but any leftover could be stored refrigerated for a day (you might lose some colour).