Simple and delicious

Once upon a time I was a victim of prepackaged foods. I still cooked regularly, but when I was getting home from uni, or work late it was much easier (or so I thought) to buy something from the "heat and serve" part of the grocery store. One of my go to quick meals, was to buy the pre-made pasta sauces, and pasta and in less than 15min I had dinner on the table. To be honest though, the sauces were never really that tasty and most are packed with salt or added preservatives that are not very good for us. Today I will share a recipe for a pasta sauce that takes only as long to make as the pasta takes to cook. Dinner is still ready in under 15min, but you get to know exactly what goes in it, and make it from fresh produce. Like my Arrabbiata recipe, the sauce is vegan friendly, but super creamy and delicious.

Pesto and Chili Pasta Sauce

Ingredients 

• 2 deseeded chili
• 1 cup of cashews
• 1 bunch of fresh basil leaves
• 2 Tbsp of olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 tsp of cook pro stock paste
• 2 ripe avocados
• juice of one large lime
• 100g of sliced sun-dried tomatoes or halved fresh cherry tomatoes

Method

1. Using the cook processor, insert the multi-blade, and add the chili, cashews, basil, olive oil, garlic and stock paste. Pulse for 10 seconds, scrape down sides and repeat until blended into a pesto.
2. Set temperature to 80 degree Celsius, speed to 1 and cook for 2min.
3. Add the avocados and lime juice, and pulse for 10seconds, scrape down sides and repeat, until avocados are pureed. 
4. Replace the multi-blade with the stir assist. Add the tomatoes. Set temperature to 80 degrees Celsius, speed to 1 and cook for 8min.
5. Stir through freshly cooked pasta and serve!

Thanks for reading!

Love Mandy M