This is super easy, quick, and incredibly satisfying recipe, and is a complete meal! The nutritional yeast is not strictly necessary but it adds to the cheesiness.
Serves 2
Ingredients:
- 1/2 a cup of plain cahsews, soaked for a while if possible (an hour is plenty)
- 1 bunch of fresh basil (around 30 gr) – washed
- 1 small garlic clove
- 4 tbs nutritional yeast (optional)
- 4 tbs olive oil
- 150 gr trimmed string beans
- 200g spaghetti
- Salt and pepper
Method
Put the cashews, basil, olive oil, nutritional yeast and garlic in a food processor or blender and pulse until you have a uniform consistency. It does not need to be smooth (see picture). Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.
The nutritional yeast is a bit of an obsession for many of us vegans and we would put it more or less in anythinng. In this case it is justified tho as it adds a bit of a cheesy flavor to the recipe.
In the meantime bring a large pot of water to the boil, add about a tbs of coarse sea salt, add the string beans and cook for around 5 minutes. Add the spaghetti and cook as per instructions on the packet (usually anywhere between 8 and 12 minutes.
BEFORE you drain the pasta, retain two or three ladels of the cooking water. Drain the pasta and beans, return to the pot, add the pesto and mix, use some of the retained water to loosen up the pesto a bit as it may be too dry, when you are happy with the consistency, it should be quite creamy, dish up and enjoy!