BASIL AND SUNFLOWER SEED PESTO COURGETTE PASTA

INGREDIENTS:

Makes 4 portions:
For the Base Noodles:
  • 2 medium courgettes
  • 1/2 a cucumber
For the pesto:
  • 1/4 of a red onion
  • 1 small handful of fresh basil
  • 80g of sunflower seeds
  • 10ml splash of apple cider vinegar
  • 10ml splash of tamari or liquid aminos
  • 1/2 a ripe avocado
  • 1 pinch of pink himalayan salt
  • juice of half a lemon

METHOD:

    For the noodles:
    • Top and tail your courgettes and cucumber and spiralize into a large mixing bowl – you now have vegetable noodles in seconds. Using either a spiralizer if you have one or alternatively I love to use a Julienne peeler
    • Take a little pinch of pink himalayan salt and the juice of half a lemon and massage into your noodles (this will not only add a great flavour to your noodles but will also draw out the moisture making your noodles a lot softer, straighter and much nicer to eat). This will take about 5-10 minutes to happen, so you can make the pesto whilst you leave them to soften
    For the Basil Pesto:
    • To make your pesto place all of your pesto ingredients into your blender or food processor and blend (depending on your blender you may need to add a touch of filtered water to help it, if you do make sure to check and adjust the seasoning accordingly)
    • When I make this pesto I like to keep it a little chunky, so therefore don’t blend it for too long and I normally just tend to pulse it rather than a constant blend.
    To Finish:
    • Strain off any excess water that has been drawn from the noodles and chop them a little bit using scissors to make bit more manageable and shorter for ease of eating
    • Mix in your chunky basil pesto into your noodles
    • Add in any extras you want (tomatoes and red peppers are great and give it some really nice colour and crunch)
    • Garnishing with mixed seeds or coconut is great also