Vegan Broccoli Pesto
A trusty vegan pesto recipe from Sophie Gordon made with a handful of pantry ingredients.
From the book
The Whole Vegetable
Seasonal, veg-centric recipes
Simple recipes that happen to be vegan
Ideas for every occasion and every time of year
Ingredients
| 1 small/medium (180–225g) | broccoli, roughly chopped, stalks included (you may need to cut them smaller, or they take a while to cook) |
| 150g | walnuts |
| 4 cloves of | garlic, crushed or finely chopped |
| approx. 1–2 large handfuls | fresh basil |
| 2 | lemons, both juiced, 1 zested |
| 250–350ml | olive oil |
| 6–8 heaped tbsp | nutritional yeast |
| a pinch of | dried chilli flakes |
| salt and pepper |
Essential kit
You will need: a blender.
Method
Steam the broccoli for around 6 minutes, until a vibrant green and tender. Remove from the heat and run under a cold tap to stop the cooking process. Drain and allow to cool completely.
Put the walnuts, garlic, fresh basil, lemon juice and zest and olive oil into a blender and blitz to a rough paste. Add the broccoli, nutritional yeast, chilli flakes and a hefty pinch of salt and pepper. Blitz again until the mix starts to get smoother. If you want it looser, add a dash more olive oil. Test and season if necessary.
Transfer the pesto to a jar for serving/storing. It will keep in the fridge for about a week. You can drizzle some additional olive oil on the top to help keep it moist.
