How To Make Vegan Pesto With Stinging Nettles

🥦🍏🍅🫑🥬 Enjoy this vegan pesto with fusili or rotini and a sprinkling of dairy-free cheese

Toss this flavorful vegan pesto with your favorite pasta for a quick weeknight dinner!

DURATION 21 mins
COOK TIME 1 min
PREP TIME 20 mins
SERVINGS 6 servings

Ingredients

-6 cups 90 g of stinging nettles, blanched, squeezed dry, and chopped
- Salted water for blanching the nettles 2 quarts of water mixed with 1 tablespoon of kosher salt
- 1 cup 115 g of walnuts
- 1-2 garlic cloves minced (2 cloves if you really love garlic)
- 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast
-2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon of lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
- 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
- 2-3 tablespoons of water

Instructions

1. Deactivate the stinging nettles – In a 4–6-quart pot, bring 2 quarts of water with 1 tablespoon of salt to a rapid boil. Use a gloved hand and tongs to plunge the nettles into the boiling water. Blanch for 60 seconds only. Drain the nettles in a colander and rinse under cold running water. (You can also immerse them into an ice bath, but I find cold water does the trick.) Gather the nettles in your hands (They won’t’ sting, I promise!) and squeeze all the extra water out by forming them into a tidy round ball. Roughly chop the nettles and set aside.
2. Make the pesto – Add the walnuts to a food processor (not a blender) and pulse until coarsely ground. Next, add the nettles, garlic, nutritional yeast, lemon juice and zest, salt and pepper. Process until a chunky paste begins to form.
3. With the motor running, drizzle in the olive oil. Then slowly add the water. You’re looking for a consistency that is thick enough to spread on a cracker or thin enough to toss with pasta. So, add more or less liquid depending on how thick/thin you like your pesto.
4. Sprinkle in a dash of salt and pepper and taste before adding more. You’re looking for a burst of flavor that makes you immediately want to take another bite!

By Plantbasednews


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