Fresh Lemon Pesto Pasta

I love pasta; so trying out new recipes is always a joy but this one is the perfect one for us as it can be prepped (mostly beforehand) and is a quick tasty meal at the end of the day. 

As I scoured the supermarket for pesto I thought: ‘why am I looking for a pre-made sauce when I could just make one at home?’ So we started growing basil at home (a slow process but hopefully we will be basil growers in a few months!) and have started using it a lot more as we make all our sauces from scratch. 

There’s no need to buy store bought pesto anymore with this quick and easy recipe. It’s 5 ingredients and 5 minutes and you’ll have a light and tasty sauce which makes a bigger impact than any store bought jar of pesto. The pine nuts can be expensive, as we found out (our jaws literally dropped when we sauce [see what I did there?] the price) but they go a long way and we still haven’t got through half of the 200g bag… in 2 months!

Homemade Lemon Pesto Pasta Recipe

(based on 4 servings)

Oven Roasted Tomatoes (edited from ‘rachel ray everyday’ blog)

• bunch cherry tomatoes (about 20 ish and preferably different colours)

• 1/4 cup of olive oil

• 1 tbs fresh thyme (Any herbs but we prefer the thyme chopped)

• 1 tbs garlic powder (sometimes i use dried garlic)

Pesto Sauce

• 1 cup of fresh basil leaves

• 3 cloves of garlic peeled

• 3 tbs pine nuts

• pinch of salt & black pepper

• 1/3 cup olive oil

The Rest

• 8oz of Penne (usually whole wheat)

• 2 cups of broccoli 

• 1 tsp minced garlic

• 1/4 cup of feta cheese (for a lighter option mozzarella cheese)

• Juice of 1/2 a fresh lemon (equivalent to 2 tbs lemon juice) 

Oven Roasted Tomatoes

1. Preheat the oven at 375 degrees (Gas Mark 5)

2. Clean the tomatoes and remove the stems. Slice them in half and place them skin down on a baking tray (with baking paper or silicon mat)

3. Drizzle over the olive il and them sprinkle the fresh thyme and garlic 

4. Roast for 40 minutes in the middle one the oven

5. After 40 minutes increase the temperature to 400 degrees (gas mark 6) and roaster a further 20 minutes

6. Turn off the oven and leave the tomatoes inside for 10 minutes 

7. The tomatoes can be used straight away or kept in a airtight jar until needed (they will last 5 days in the fridge but you freeze they will last up to 6 months.)

Pesto Sauce

1. Empty all ingredients into a bowl or blender 

2. Blend together and set aside (either in a air tight container in the fridge or until you need it)

The Whole Meal

1. Cook the penne pasta as per instructions (place the pasta into boiling salted water for about 11 minutes)

2. In the last 5 minutes of the pasta cooking add the baby broccoli 

3. Drain the pasta and broccoli and return to the pan over medium heat

4. Add the roasted tomatoes & minced garlic and sauté for 2 minutes

5. Add the pesto and the lemon juice

6. Toss together and sprinkle with cheese of your choice