Vegan Pasta Primavera with Watercress & Almond Pesto

This vegan Pasta Primavera with Watercress & Almond Pesto is packed with vegetables and flavours.

This vegan Pasta Primavera with Watercress & Almond Pesto is packed with vegetables and flavours. I love adding pink peppercorns on top. Slightly sweet, they are crunchy with a light pepper taste. If you prefer something hotter, you can swap them for red chillies.

This is a quick and straightforward recipe that can be ready in less than 30 minutes. While the pasta is cooking, you can prepare the vegetables in a separate pan.

As each vegetable has a different cooking time, the trick is to add them at different times. Step #5 in the recipe method below explains it all.

I created this recipe for Rude Wines in order the celebrate the much-awaited arrival of Spring.

This Pasta Primavera with Watercress & Almond Pesto pairs perfectly with their vegan Rude Reserve Blanc from Gascony, France.

This wine is a refreshing blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Colombard, Petit Manseng and Ugni Blanc. An ultra-reliable, excellent all-rounder Rude Reserve Blanc was the Bronze Winner of the International Wine Challenge 2018.

If you are new to plant-based diets, you might be surprised to learn that not all wines are vegan.

Conventional wines are made using animal proteins such as casein (from milk), albumin (from egg), gelatin (from meat) and isinglass (from fish) as fining agents to remove the haze as well as to improve the colour and clarity of the wine. While these products are filtered back out, they are not acceptable for anyone on a vegetarian or vegan diet.

Alternatives such as clay-based fining agents, bentonite, or even plant casein are now used to produce true vegan wines. Switching to a plant-based fining agent does not alter quality. Vegan wines are as good as conventional wines, the difference being that they can be enjoyed by everyone, whatever their diet preferences.

While some vegan wines will be approved by the Vegan Society, others are not and often it is really hard to tell if animal products have been used during the winemaking process.

Luckily, Rude Wines has a wide selection of both vegan wines and vegetarian wines, clearly marked on their website, which you can narrow down by wine type, country of origin, price, food match and region. Each wine is hand-picked by their buyers and sourced from producers who are passionate about the quality of their wines.

Rude Wines is kindly offering a selection box of 6 bottles of wine along with Jane Parkinson’s book ‘Food & Wine’. Head over to the competition for a chance to enter.

Disclaimer: this recipe is sponsored by Rude Wines. All thoughts and opinions remain my own.

Vegan Pasta Primavera with Watercress & Almond Pesto

This vegan Pasta Primavera with Watercress & Almond Pesto is packed with vegetables and flavours.

5 from 1 vote

DieTARY CHOICEDairy-Free Recipes, Egg-Free Recipes, Gluten-Free Recipes, High Fibre Recipes, Soya-Free Recipes, Vegan Recipes

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Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 15 mins

Total Time 25 mins

Course Pasta & Noodles

Cuisine Italian

Servings 4 people

Calories 640 kcal

Equipment

• Blender
• 2 large pans

Ingredients

 

MetricUS Customary

 

1x2x3x

• 250 g asparagus
• 150 g tenderstem broccoli
• 75 g mangetout
• 75 g frozen peas
• 75 g frozen broad beans
• 360 g spaghetti
• 3 spring onions
• 2 handfuls of pine nuts
• pink peppercorns or red chilli

FOR THE PESTO:

• 80 g watercress
• 20 g fresh basil
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 75 g blanched almonds
• 15 mint leaves
• 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
• extra olive oil

Instructions

 

TO MAKE THE PESTO:

• Place watercress, basil, garlic clove, lemon juice, blanched almonds, mint leaves, salt and 3 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil in a blender. Whizz until smooth. Transfer to a bowl when done. Add nutritional yeast and more olive oil (I usually add 3 to 4 Tbsp) until you have your desired consistency. Set aside.

TO MAKE THE VEGETABLES & PASTA:

• Remove and dispose of hard stalks of asparagus. Cut each asparagus in 3. Cut tenderstem broccoli in halves.
• Heat two large pans of water.
• When boiling, put the spaghetti into one of them.
• When the spaghetti have only 10 mins left to cook, add asparagus to the other pan of boiling water. 2 minutes later add mangetout and broad beans. 1 minute later add the tenderstem broccoli. 2 minutes later the peas. Cook for another couple of minutes until vegetables are done. They should still have a bite.
• By that time the pasta should be cooked. Drain pasta and vegetables. Transfer pasta to a large serving dish. Toss in pesto and vegetables.
• Serve straight away topped with sliced spring onions, pine nuts and pink peppercorns.

Nutrition

Serving: 250gCalories: 640kcalCarbohydrates: 88gProtein: 24gFat: 23gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gMonounsaturated Fat: 14gTrans Fat: 1gSodium: 183mgPotassium: 801mgFiber: 11gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 2637IUVitamin C: 72mgCalcium: 175mgIron: 5mg

Keyword pasta, primavera, watercress

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