Meatless Monday Inspiration: Raw Vegan Zucchini “Pasta” With Pesto
As promised, we’re going to share some of the recipes from our Vegan-for-a-Week Challenge each Monday (until we run out, or like, get bored), for our very own version of Meatless Mondays.
We thought this dish from Carla sounded creative and delicious. It’s totally raw, totally quick, and we’re betting really, really good. Also, what a great twist for anyone who can’t eat gluten pasta. Carla appears to have a blog devoted to raw vegan recipes—yum! Here’s the email she sent us:
Serves 2 in 15 minutes
ingredients
2 green zucchinis
1 cup pistachios
4 cups of basil leaves
Avocado oil
Sea salt
Purple cabbage
1 tomato
Chives
1. Soak your nuts in filtered water while preparing the other ingredients drain and then rinse.
2. Cut ends off zucchinis and slice zucchini into linguini style strips with a peeler.
3. In a blender or food processor add basil, pistachios and ¼ teaspoon sea salt then mix. Start adding avocado oil and blend until smooth. Add more sea salt to taste.
4. Mix pesto with zucchini pasta and top over thin strips of purple cabbage
5. Finally top with tomatoes, minced chives and season with sea salt and pepper
mmmmmmmmmmm, looks delicious!!
Sounds awesome! I have had (and made) variations on this dish. As a gluten-free girl, I love the option of veggie pasta-style dishes. You still get all the delicious sauces, for which the pasta is merely a vehicle anyway! If you like spaghetti-style thin “noodles” you can use a spiralizer (I use the joyce chen saladacco spiral slicer). I also use other raw veggies in this way like golden beets and butternut squash.
Love the idea of getting these recipes out to lots of people, so everyone can see how great vegan (even sometimes) can be.
Ok, I’m sorry, this might be crude, but did anyone else BUST OUT laughing at Step 1? “Soak your nuts”? I thought, wait, is this from a men’s cookbook or something? I was dying…..
I am realizing that my sense of humor has been reduced to that of a sophomore boy’s, which is most likely because I spend all day teaching them.
:) Feel free to not post my comment if it’s not fitting, but I just couldn’t help laughing.
HA. What I can’t believe is that I didn’t notice that! Hilarious.
That’s why I like this blog, the readers have a sense of humor. Raw food can take itself so serious sometimes. Everything benefits from a good soak. :)
Heh heh! I have friends (adult males) who find it hilarious when I talk about making my own “nut milks.” You totally need to soak your nuts to do that. ; )
This looks fantastic. Thanks for sharing!
This looks delish! I must try to make this soon. Thanks for the recipe :)
You can soften up the zucchini noodles by covering them in salt and putting them in a colander to sweat. The leach out a good amount of the liquid and it makes them softer, more flexible, and just more palatable. Just remember to rinse the salt off before you put your sauce on. ‘Cause that can get rude.