This is the third pesto recipe I have now put on the blog, what can I say I love these flavourful sauces. To me, if they were limited to pasta dishes alone that would be such a shame.
I grow my own tomatoes every year, and pesto and passata are wonderful ways to use these gorgeous little fruits up.
Slow roasting the tomatoes in the oven brings our their natural concentrated sweetness, paired with a heady scent of thyme, basil and garlic it really is a flavour fest.
It does make a wonderful pizza sauce and is often my secret to a fabulous vegan lasagne. I have even been known to use a little, spread on the bread in my cheese toastie.
In a sealed tub it will keep for up to a week in the fridge. Alternatively, freeze into ice-cube trays and then pop into a freezer bag. This way they keep for around a month, also it really is a handy way to store and use them
These are my basil pesto cubes. I usually have a bag of these, the tomato ones and the red pepper in my freezer at all times ones.
Ingredients
- 4 cloves of garlic
- Small bunch of thyme
- 10 medium plum or Roma tomatoes, sliced in half
- 1 packed cup of basil
- 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil + extra for drizzling
- 2 Tbsp vegan parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup roasted almonds
- Salt and black pepper
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 200C and line a baking tray with parchment.
place tomatoes on the tray, cut side up. Scatter over the thyme sprigs then drizzle with olive oil. Take two cloves of garlic, keeping the skin on, press down with the flat blade of a knife to crush a little. place these with the tomatoes.
Roast for approximately an hour. Pay attention towards the end of the cooking time, making sure they do not get too dark.
3/4 of the way through cooking
Add the remaining two cloves of garlic and the basil to the food processor, pulse until broken up. Add the rest of the ingredients, and process well until fairly smooth. Check the seasoning, add more if needed. It is not the prettiest colour but please do not let that deter you.
Refrigerate in a sealed container until ready to be used. This really is a gorgeous tomato pesto which oozes flavour.
I use this pesto in many ways. Sometimes I like to keep it simple, stirring it through some warm pasta. Also tossing some new potatoes in a tablespoon of the pesto, then roasting them in the oven for 30 minutes. Alternatively is lovely used as the base for my mushroom pasta bake below.
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