One of my favourite things about summer is fresh herbs from the garden – especially fresh basil. And what better way to enjoy fresh basil than by making a fresh and delicious pesto. YUM! Fresh peas from the farmers market (or better yet from your own garden!) are perfect for this recipe, however frozen are also great. P.S. Leftovers are awesome the next day, especially as cold pasta salad for lunch 😉

Yield: 6 servings

Time: 30 minutes prep + cook time

Ingredients for the Pesto:

4 cups fresh basil leaves (packed)

1 cup pine nuts

1/2 cup walnuts

4 cloves garlic

3/4 cup olive oil (add more if needed)

Juice of 2 lemons

1 tsp salt

Ingredients for Almond Parmesan:

1/2 cup raw almonds

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

pinch of salt

Ingredients for the Pasta:

1 bag fusilli pasta (I used GoGoQuinoa gluten free variety)

1/4 cup pine nuts

1 tbsp grape seed oil

8 oz mushrooms sliced

1 clove garlic minced

1 cup fresh or frozen peas

2 cups arugula

sprouts to garnish

Method:

1. To make the pesto, place all the ingredients except the olive oil in a food processor and slowly add the olive oil while pulsing the mixture until just creamy. You want little specks of basil still visible in your pesto so it’s not completely uniform. Set pesto aside.
2. In a large skillet brown pine nuts on medium heat. Be sure to watch these as they burn quickly! Set pine nuts aside.
3. Cook pasta as per boxed instructions.
4. While pasta is cooking, add grape seed oil to the skillet used to brown the pine nuts and bring to medium heat. Add in sliced mushrooms and garlic and sauté for 3-5 minutes until mushrooms cook down and develop some colour. Add in peas and warm through until peas are just cooked. Set aside.
5. Drain pasta and while still in the pot add pesto and combine until all the pasta is covered with the pesto.
6. Serve pasta into bowls and garnish with mushroom and pea mixture, pine nuts, almond parmesan, arugula and sprouts. Enjoy!
7. This recipe keeps well in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.