Pasta with carrot pesto – easy recipe

Pesto with carrots? Oh yes please! This is healthy, delicious and very tasty indeed. Spring is here and I am on the look for delicious and healthy meals for the family.

All you do is whizzing the carrots with walnuts and basil in a blender. Add enough olive oil to get a nice and smooth creamy sauce and your pesto is ready.

I have also added a little bit of bacon to add extra flavour. It gives a kick to this dish but of course you can just leave it out if you prefer a vegetarian meal. Make sure you use good quality ingredients and good olive oil too.

• Prep Time : 15 minutes
• Cook Time : 12 minutes
• Yield : 4

Ingredients

• spaghetti – 500 g – 5 cups
• carrots – 2 large (about 300 g or in weight)
• shallot – 1
• bacon – 120 g – 1/2 cup
• walnuts halved – 50 g – 1/2 cup
• garlic cloves – 2
• basil leaves – 4
• rosemary – 1 stick
• chopped parsley – 1 tbsp
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper

Instructions

Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and cook the pasta al dente.

Peel the carrots and put them in a processor with the walnuts, a pinch of salt and the basil leaves. Whiz and add 4 tbsp of olive oil and a little warm water enough to get a smooth consistency.

In a pan stir fry the garlic with 2 tbsp of olive oil, the rosemary and the chopped bacon. Brown the bacon for 3 to 4 minutes then remove the garlic and the rosemary. Drain the pasta and add it to the pan with the carrot pesto. Mix well.

Serve with a sprinkle of chopped parsley.

Advertisement