So I had a little nibble of my mum’s M&S pesto pasta yesterday and I forgot how bloody good pesto is. After getting rather jealous, I decided to make my own pesto. I decided to make it a meat free meal cos sustainability and all, and also relatively low carb because I hadn’t done any exercise by the time dinner came around, thanks to this absolutely sweltering heat. To be honest I’m surprisedI even made it through the day I was sweating so much.
I had a little browse through my many recipe books, and came across a Deliciously Ella pesto and butter bean recipe. I’ve had a tin of butter beans in my cupboard for a little while after mistakably picking them up thinking they we chickpeas (fml), so this was perfect and delicious. Every cloud has a silver lining and all. I’ve also got a little/incredibly obsessed with pomegranate – it’s summery, so tasty and looks super pretty. Kinda like a little summery jewel. In my tummy.
Ingredients:
– 1/2 – 1 clove garlic
– 50g pine nuts
– Large handful of fresh basil
– 3 tablespoons olive oil plus a little extra
– Juice 1 lemon
– 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan (optional if you want it vegan)
– 1 tin of butter beans (400g)
– Two large handfuls of spinach
– 1 heaped tbsp pumpkin seeds
– 1/2 a small pomegranate/bae
Method:
1. Make the pesto. Peel and blitz the garlic clove in a mini food processor (or nutribullet type thing). Add the pine nuts, basil leaves, olive oil, half the lemon juice and some black pepper and salt. Blend again until a smooth pesto-like consistency.
2. Drain and rinse the beans and pop them in a frying pan with the pesto and spinach. Sauté for a couple of minutes until warm. I don’t like my spinach completely wilted, but feel free to cook it for slightly longer.
3. Squeeze the rest of the lemon juice into the pan and add some more salt and pepper before serving up.
4. Sprinkle over the pumpkin seeds, and bash out the pomegranate seeds over the top. Add another little drizzle of olive oil and enjoy.
Sammy's Kitchen 