Cashew Basil Pasta
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Serves 4
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. If you like more garlic, crush a few cloves and pan fry them with the zucchini flowers.
I’ve included Thermomix instructions for those of you who have a Thermomix.
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 (or spinach leaves)
- 1/3 cup (4 tbs) extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to cook zucchini flowers
- 1/3 cup (4 tbs) filtered water
- 1 garlic clove, peeled
- 1 cup cooked peas
- 1 packet (approx. 12) baby zucchini flowers, halved lengthways
- 4 portions/servings San Remo Fibre Fest pasta (or your preferred pasta), cooked to packet instructions
- Watercress, to serve (optional)
Method
- Roughly chop 50g of the cashews and set aside.
- Place remaining 100g cashews and parmesan into a food processor and process to a ground consistency (Thermomix: 5 sec/speed 8).
- 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).
- Season generously with sea salt and pepper.
- Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add a drizzle of olive oil and sauté zucchini flowers until golden brown and tender.
- Toss sauce through hot pasta and sprinkle with the toasted cashews and extra parmesan, shaved. Serve topped with zucchini flowers and watercress (optional).
Tips
- For vegan option, omit the parmesan and replace with 1 ½ tbs nutritional yeast flakes.
