CASHEW BASIL SPELT PASTA

Nourish
CASHEW BASIL SPELT PASTA

Serves 4

A delicious healthy meal from our Co-Founder and Nutrition Director, Louise Keats.

This is a quick delicious pasta loaded with goodness. Cashews are now being recognised as a great gut-supporting food thanks to their resistant starch – a prebiotic that helps feed the good guys in your gut.

The avocado adds some green raw goodness to this mousse, with a boost of fibre, healthy fats, potassium, folate and vitamins C, E and K.

I’ve included Thermomix instructions for those of you who have a Thermomix.

Vegetarian, see also Vegan and Dairy-Free option 

INGREDIENTS

  • 150g dry roasted cashews (see Tips)
  • 30g parmesan (see Tips for dairy-free/vegan option), plus extra to serve
  • 180g avocado flesh
  • Finely grated zest and juice of 2 lemons
  • 50g fresh basil leaves
  • 1/3 cup (4 tbs) extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/3 cup (4 tbs) filtered water
  • 1 garlic clove, peeled
  • 1 cup cooked peas
  • 4 servings organic spelt pasta, cooked to packet instructions (see Tips)
  • Watercress, to serve (optional)

METHOD

  1. Roughly chop 50g of the cashews and set aside.
  2. Place remaining 100g cashews and parmesan into a food processor and process to a ground consistency (Thermomix: 5 sec/speed 8).
  3. Add avocado, lemon juice, lemon zest, basil, olive oil, water and garlic and process until creamy and smooth (Thermomix: 20 sec/speed 5, scrape down sides and process a further 20 sec/speed 9) . Adds peas and process until peas are just crushed (Thermomix: 2 sec/speed 5).
  4. Season generously with sea salt and pepper.
  5. Toss sauce through hot pasta and sprinkle with the toasted cashews and extra parmesan, shaved. Serve topped with watercress (optional).

TIPS

  • For vegan option, omit the parmesan and replace with 1 ½ tbs nutritional yeast flakes.
  • I also prefer to use spelt rather than traditional wheat pasta. Spelt is an ancient grain that many people find easier to digest. I also prefer to use organic pasta, to avoid any pesticide residues (eg, glyphosate) found on conventional products.
  • If you prefer, you can switch the spelt pasta with a gluten-free option such as chickpea or black bean pasta.