Veg*n Cooking and Other Random Musings: Sun-dried Tomato Pesto Pasta with Fresh Tomatoes and Sautéed Zucchini and Summer Squash

Monday, September 15, 2008

Sun-dried Tomato Pesto Pasta with Fresh Tomatoes and Sautéed Zucchini and Summer Squash

Well, I took a half day from work. We got all of our gardening supplies, transplanted peppers, an avocado tree, some wheatgrass for the kitties, and sowed a wheat/barley/oat grass mix in a small pot for them. We wanted to transplant the One Ball squash today too, but the pot is huge and we are trying to figure out some sort of "back-up drip pan". Sometimes they get overwatered, even the ones with the little catchment trays, but when you've overdone it, you've overdone it, and since the plants are going to be set on or near carpet, we wanted back up. We'll either think of something or get a different container. That one may have to be strictly "outdoors".

Anywho, after these and some other tasks were attended to, I figured I could try to catch up a little bit and do one of the three recipes I have in "backlog" to post about. In case you've all been wondering where all the basil and pasta were going (and I know how much you have), one word, pesto! This is just one of the variations we've been playing with, nothing special. Simple, fresh, and yummy - you can't beat that.

Just a reminder of the produce legend:
no asterisk = grocery store
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden















This is another one of those things that nobody would eat if they only ate pretty things. :-)

Sun-dried Tomato Pesto
Makes about 1 cup

2-3 cups fresh sweet basil *
1/3 cup of walnuts
1 jar of sun-dried tomatoes, drained
1/2 cup good olive oil
6 cloves of garlic, peeled *
a couple of pinches of fresh black pepper

Combine everything in a food processor until smooth and well blended.















Sun-dried Tomato Pesto Pasta with Fresh Tomatoes and Sautéed Zucchini and Summer Squash

penne pasta *
1/2 large zucchini, chopped ***
1/2 large yellow summer squash, chopped **
1 tsp safflower or coconut oil
3-4 large tomatoes, chopped * and ***

Cook pasta according to package directions.

Heat 1 tsp safflower or coconut oil in a small skillet. Add the zucchini and squash and cook for about 10 minutes or until well cooked.

Toss pasta with a few tablespoons of the pesto (or to taste), then toss in the fresh tomatoes, zucchini, and squash.

Yum! I'm glad it is almost dinner time here!

'Til next time.

10 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Yum x 1000000!!!

Anonymous said...

OMG that looks so gooD! And guess what!? I HAVE ALL THE INGREDIENTS!! yay!

Catherine Weber said...

WOW -- not mexican food! Sounds great, even though the tomatoes make it a strange color!

Anonymous said...

That looks so good. I am totally going off the charts craving pasta right now.

jessy said...

oh my holy batman, Jennifer! this looks like the most scrumptiously delicious pesto pasta EVER! damn! that's awesome! :D i'm totally going to make this soon - mmmmmmmmmmmmm! how can i not?!

Anonymous said...

The pesto looks heavenly. I love pesto.

J said...

Veggie Girl - Hahaha!

Leng - Thanks, it's nothing special, but really tasty. I hope you guys like it if you make it.

Catherine - I don't venture out from Mexican very often, its what we like and what I am good at. When I do, more often than not it is some sort of sweet/spicy Asian stir-fry or sushi. You'll see some Mexican and spicy Asian stir-fries this week whenever I get around to posting about them.

Yeah, it definitely isn't pretty.

Nikki - Thanks. Hahahaha, I get that way about beans and rice!

Jessy - Hahahahaha! It is really easy and really good. The pesto is all done in a food processor, the local pasta cooks in about 5 minutes, and the tomatoes are just chopped tomatoes, you don't have to add the sauteed stuff if you don't want to. Have this with just the tomatoes and you got yourself one of those 15 minutes meals.

Two Vegan Boys - Thank you, me too. I never made my own until this year, and since I'm allergic to dairy, rarely had it, but now we've been eating it all the time. We've even sown basil seeds, in part, for pesto!

DP Nguyen said...

That looks so good, and it's so simple to make too. I really love pesto. Yum!

J said...

Dp Nguyen - Pesto rocks for two main reasons: 1) it is so easy to make; 2) it is so darn tasty!

muebles said...

Here, I do not actually consider this will have success.