recipe makeover: pesto pasta

Pull up a chair for this oil and cheese-free comforting dish.

I was a late culinary bloomer.

By this I mean I didn’t grow up eating a variety of cuisines and flavors. My palette was a little beige you could say.

It wasn’t until my mid-twenties that I discovered fresh and vibrant foods like endive, lemongrass, kale, and pomegranate. Perhaps this lack of exposure fueled my sudden and intense passion for whole-food cooking.

Before my plant-based journey began and way before I attended culinary school, I had a hunch that food was going to be a big part of my life. I wanted to know more, I wanted the skills to make my own recipes, and I knew I needed a hands-on environment. So with zero experience, my now-husband and I signed up for a 10-week classic French cooking course. We learned everything from mincing garlic, to deboning chickens, to preparing a creme brulée waterbath. I loved it (minus the deboning chickens) and felt a litle like Julia Childs!

We learned so much about flavor pairings, quality ingredients, and the importance of equipment. The course introduced me to chef’s knives, ring molds, and the almighty food processor.

This was the showstopper. The food processor blew my mind!

I ran out and bought one almost immediately. And the experiments started!

One of the first things on my to-make list was pesto. Everything about pesto fascinated me (still does!). Fresh basil, pine nuts, parmesan — these intense flavors combine magically and perfectly. Pesto pasta was in heavy rotation.

Fast forward 15 years and here’s my plant-based twist on a classic. I stayed true to the basil and pine nut profile but swapped the oil for avocado and water and the parmesan for a mixture of nutritional yeast and umami miso.

It’s delicious mixed with just-cooked pasta, smeared on a sandwich or burger, or paired with baked tofu and cooked grains.

I hope you love this recipe as much as we do!