ZUCCHINI PASTA WITH BASIL HEMP PESTO [VEGAN, RAW, GLUTEN-FREE]

It’s pasta time! Who doesn’t love spaghetti? We won’t be using traditional wheat pasta of course, but zucchini noodles. On the menu: Zucchini Pasta with Basil Hemp Pesto. If you've never used a spiralizer, now's the perfect opportunity to try it out.

Source: onegreenplanet.org

SERVES

2

INGREDIENTS

Basil Hemp Pesto:

• 2 cups of fresh basil
• 2 cups of fresh spinach (or extra basil)
• ½ cup of zucchini, finely chopped
• ½ cup of sunflower seeds or pine nuts
• ¼ cup of hemp seeds
• ½ small clove of garlic, grated
• ½ teaspoon of nutritional yeast (or more to taste)
• Himalayan pink crystal salt or sea salt, to taste
• 2 large pinches of cayenne pepper
• Optional addition: extra virgin olive oil, to taste

Zucchini Pasta:

•  4 medium zucchini

PREPARATION

Basil Hemp Pesto:

1. Combine basil, spinach and zucchini in the food processor fitted with an S-blade. Process until finely ground.
2. Add sunflower seeds, hemp seeds and garlic, and process again.
3. Finally, add nutritional yeast, salt and cayenne pepper. Mix into a creamy pesto.

Zucchini Pasta:

1.  Peel your zucchini and turn them into noodles using a spiralizer.
2. Combine your zucchini pasta and basil hemp pesto right before serving. If you combine these two in advance, the pasta will become watery. Bon appétit!

NOTES

This Basil Hemp Pesto will stay fresh for at least 3 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Not a big fan of zucchini? You can easily create noodles out of carrot, parsnip, beetroot or your favorite type of squash.

Hemp seeds are packed with plant-based protein and healthy omega 3 fatty acids. If you don’t have any hemp seeds at home, you can replace them with extra pine nuts or sunflower seeds. Or how about walnuts or pumpkin seeds?