Pesto is quick to make but feels like a restaurant-quality meal. Finding vegan pesto isn’t always easy when the craving hits, so why not make your own!

1 x 500g pack of pasta 

Pesto
1 bunch fresh basil, leaves removed from stalks
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup pine nuts
4-6 cloves garlic, peeled and broken with the blade of a knife
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
Salt and pepper to taste 

Mushrooms
5-10 medium mushrooms (swiss brown or button), rough chopped
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste  

Place basil leaves, olive oil, garlic, pine nuts, garlic and nutritional yeast in a food processor and process until well combined. The result should be a thick, moist paste. If your pesto is too dry, add more oil and continue to process.Season with salt and pepper and stir through well, then set aside.

Cook pasta as per instructions.

While the pasta is cooking, fry mushrooms in a little olive oil until well cooked. Season with salt and pepper.Once pasta is cooked, drain and then return it to the pot. Stir through your pesto.

To make sure you don’t end up with dry pasta, mix only have the spaghetti or pasta noodles to start with and add more depending on how much pesto you have.Serve pasta topped with mushrooms and garnish with fresh parsley.

As a variation, add fresh chopped tomato and some pitted kalamata olives when you stir the pesto through the pasta.  

WORDS: aduki