Pasta with roasted Brussels sprouts and green pesto sauce.

One of my followers tipped me about a vegan pesto that is available in one of the leading supermarket-chains in The Netherlands. An Italian company with a great philosophy* called Puro! (see link at the end of the blog). So I bought the red- and the green vegan pesto.

Now I have to confess that I am not a real fan of pizza’s, pasta etc. (as opposed to apparantly everybody else in the world!) But since I have found fresh made vegan-, wholewheat – pasta, (available in that same supermarket) and four of my family members dó love pasta and pizza’s, I have been preparing pasta on a more regular base. And I have to admit, it’s growing on me. With my “Stroganoff pasta” being the absolute favourite!

Nevertheless, these lovely jars were staring me in the face for two weeks, during which I tried to come up with an original dish. And you know what, I think I did!Pasta with Brussels sprouts and a creamy pesto sauce.

I have always loved Brussels sprouts from when I was a young child, unlike so many others. Very understandable, since the traditional way to prepare Brussels sprouts in my country is to simply cook them with some salt, seasoned with nutmeg and serve them with cooked potatoes, a peace of meat and jus. Not very appealing and rather dull. Nevertheless I have always liked them, but only the small ones. (they go by the name “hotel sprouts” in the Netherlands, I do not have a clue why😄) They are less bitter and even a bit sweet.

Roasted Brussels sprouts however increase in popularity, with good reason! They are so tasty and versatile, and simple to prepare. All it takes is cutting of the ends, mix them with olive oil, salt, pepper and spices to your taste. For this dish I mixed in a tablespoon of the green vegan pesto and then placed them in the oven for 30 minutes.

While the Brussels sprouts are roasting in the oven you can prepare the creamy pesto sauce. Which is easy really. You mix all the ingredients (see recipe) in the blender, mix until smooth and then it is up to whether you serve the sauce cold or warm. I wanted the sauce not to be too cold because then the pasta would cool off instantly and I can’t stand cold pasta. But I did not want to heat the sauce because of the risk of separation. So I placed the sauce on the section on my stove where you can keep your food warm. I stirred frequently to let the warmth spread throughout. It worked like a charm!

I decided to add a bit of caramelised red onions. It turned out lovely and even the most critical (non-vegan) one of my sons complimented me on this excellent dish! 😊