Homemade Pesto Pasta with Farmer’s Market Basil

A gluten-free vegan meal that anyone can enjoy!

Fresh Basil & Walnut Pesto

I love meals that have a story, with ingredients that seem to walk around telling their history.  The cherry tomatoes came from St. Louis, grown in the backyard of Ryan’s parents and given to us while we were visiting last week.  Ryan’s mom excitedly picked them out of her garden and put them in a brown bag to ripen.  The basil, fresh and fragrant as I carried it around the library and downtown, came from the Farmer’s Market here in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  The walnuts were bought in the bulk aisle at Ozark Natural Foods, during their spectacular Owner Appreciation Weekend.  With a lot of olive oil and excitement, Ryan & I combined the ingredients and added this pesto to brown rice spaghetti from Field Day Organics.

Gluten-Free Vegan Pesto:

Serves 2-3

1/2 package Field Day Gluten-Free brown rice spaghetti

Handful of walnuts

Handful of cherry tomatoes, diced

Fresh basil leaves (enough to fill a brown paper bag without stuffing it)

Olive Oil (as much as you prefer)

3 cloves garlic

Pinch of dried chili pepper flakes

Squirt of lemon

Using a blender, mince the walnuts in olive oil briefly.  Then add the garlic and all of the basil, adding only the leaves not the stems.  Squirt some lemon into this mixture. And there you have pesto!  We also infused the olive oil with a couple of cloves chopped garlic and a pinch of chili pepper flakes, to give it a bit of spice.  We combined everything with the cooked pasta, and added the tomatoes in at the end for garnish (uncooked).  This dish was amazing and I hope you get to enjoy pesto from fresh basil in your own home sometime soon!