Vegan Cook-a-Long

Better late than never! Broccoli Pesto!

Hi everyone! I'm happy to join in here, even though it's technically Squash curry week. I was intrigued by the idea of the broccoli pesto and although I didn't quite stick to the recipe, it turned out very well.

First I steamed 4 medium heads of broccoli, enough to have extra. I have a Black and Decker electric steamer that I've had for 6 years. It works beautifully.

While it was steaming, I prepared the ingredients for a regular pesto. I didn't stick to measurements but used a bunch of fresh basil, about 5 huge cloves of garlic (cut in half), about 4 TB of olive oil, 3/4 sea salt like in the recipe, and then 2 TB of this wierd brown/green stuff.
What is it? Why, it was featured in a post on my regular blog a few days ago. It's pumpkinseed butter! We usually use roasted pumpkinseeds instead of pinenuts in pesto for its awesome EFAs (Essential Fatty Acids), (and sterols which are good for the prostate!), and since we had some pumpkinseed butter that we like to use on toast, I figured it would be easy to put some in here. 2 TB worth.
Here's a shot of the regular pesto when it was done

I then added about 1.5 Cups of broccoli in small pieces, and about 1 tsp of Chreeze powder from Road's End Organics in lieu of nutritional yeast. (It has the yeast in it, along with some spices and lentil flour.) I figured that the smoky roasted taste of the pumpkinseeds would be ok in place of the miso. Here is the new pesto! I reserved a few TB of the regular for the husband.

While the pesto was in the making, I made Bionaturae's whole wheat Rottini pasta, and when it was done, I put about 3 huge spoons of the pesto, along with a handful of broccoli, and some organic, locally grown cherry tomatoes cut in half.

What's the verdict? Well, I liked it very much but I knew I would. The true test came from my husband who poo-pooed the whole operation and opted for a tempeh BLT instead. I have him a piece of my pasta with pesto and he couldn't believe that there was broccoli in it! Then he went into the kitchen and proceeded to slather some fresh whole wheat bread with it. Greedy Guts! This version is the ultimate antioxidant version with the garlic, olive oil, pumpkinseed oil, tomatoes, and of course, the broccoli.

Edited to Add: While this was extremely tasty and healthy, if you put in so much garlic like I did, plan to eat it when no one else is around and you have no plans in the next few hours. Unless you want people to think you are a dragon ::breathes fire and brimstone:: if you know what I mean...

posted by Anonymous @ 12:29 AM