Possibly the tastiest pesto covered roast veg pasta bake..

So I've named this (extremely addictive) dish 'Possibly the tastiest pesto covered roast veg past bake'. And it certainly lives up to it's name. I can shamefully admit to eating entire dishes of this to my self in one or two sittings. Please don't judge, I can explain why.  You have the pasta and who doesn't love carby pasta? You've got really sweet, soft and flavoursome roasted veg. You've got homemade subtle yet just the perfect amount of pesto and then you've got the baked bread crumbs. Who couldn't say not to that?

So there's a few steps to this heavenly dish: the homemade or (store bought) pesto, the roasting of the veg and the pasta. Here is what to do:

1. Making the Vegan Pesto

I make my own because it's impossibe to find vegan basil pesto in Dublin. It's really really easy to make and here is how I make it:

•  2 standard packets of fresh basil ( as much as you would like really)
• A good handful of pine nuts
• Nutritional Yeast flakes (as much as you want to taste)
• A good old glug of olive oil
• A clove of garlic
• Chilli (optional)
• & Salt and Pepper

Throw all of that in a blender and there you have vegan basil pesto!

Pesto tip: Pesto is pretty pricey to make but you can get 2 packets of fresh basil in Tesco for 2 euro. Pine nuts are also majorly expensive BUT you can pick up packets for 1 euro in Tiger stores which are found around Dublin.

2. Making the Roasted Vegetables

This is the best part and the sweeter the veg, the better. Chop whatever vegetables you desire into small bite size pieces. The smaller they are, the quicker they cook and the quicker they cook, the quicker you get to tuck into some amazing pasta bake. So season them up and roast until they're soft and juicy.

I like to use peppers, garlic, courgette, mushrooms and butternut squash but anything goes. I do strongly recommend courgette though, you'll understand why if you go with it.

3. Boiling the boring, soon to be exciting Pasta!

I prefere to use wholegrain pasta but feel free to use normal. I don't have exact measurements for how much to cook but just go with how much you need to fill your dish of choice. Keep in mind that the more pasta you cook you less concentrated the pesto will get. 

4. The final steps towards a pesto pasta party

So once you're pasta is boiled and your veg is roasted and oozing flavour, throw it all in a bowl with the pesto and mix it around until you've got a nice even spread.

For a topping I mixed nutritional yeast and breadcrumbs and a small bit of oil! I also chop cherry tomatos into small pieces, squeeze all the moisture out of them and place on top of the pasta bake so they become crispy when being baked.

Vegan Pesto

I've been making this a fair bit. It's really so simple and also so yummy.

I add:

-Semi-sundried tomatoes

-Rocket/Spinach

-Cashew nuts (pine nuts are insanely expensive)

-Chilli

-Salt and Pepper.

-A couple cloves of garlic

And all into the food processor. I have some Basil in the fridge so I will make some tomorrow for my dinner.

Vegan Pepperoni.

                                                                                                                                             Picked this up after work in The Organic Supermarket in Blackrock. Wasn't to sure at first but Ailbhe convinced me it was delish and at 99c, why not! It tastes just like the real thing too. Oh, it's vegan pepperoni and apparently packed with protein.

I thought it would go great with pasta so I made some sort of pesto. With semi sundried tomatoes plus some of the oil,a handful of rocket rocket, cashew nuts, 2 cloves of garlic and a chunk of chilli.

And put it with pasta along with the pepperoni and spinach. Very nice.

Followed by..!