Mushroom Pesto Pasta

A bowl of mushroom pesto pasta, ready to eat.

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

An easy quick dinner that comes together in no time! Perfect for when you are hungry and need something delicious

Prep Time10

Cook Time15

Total Time25

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Italian

Diet: Vegan

Servings: portions

Calories: 589kcal

Author: Louise-Claire Cayzer

Equipment

Ingredients

To make the pesto from scratch

55 g Fresh basil About two big handfuls or one bunch.
75 g pine nuts you can also use cashew nuts, pumpkin or sunflower seeds.
22 g nutritional yeast
45 ml Olive oil extra virgin
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon Maldon or Kosher Salt

For the pasta

180 g pasta 90g per person or more if you are hungry!
1 teaspoon salt for boiling pasta *
250 g mushrooms
4 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon flakey sea salt
1 teaspoon chili flakes
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoon pesto either freshly made or shop bought
2 tablespoon pine nuts optional

Metric - American

Instructions

To make the pesto from scratch (Optional)

Wash the basil then dry it really well.
55 g Fresh basil
Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan, be careful that they don't burn. Let them cool.
75 g pine nuts
Put the pine nuts and garlic into the food processor and blitz to a fine rubble.
1 clove garlic, 75 g pine nuts
Add in all the other ingredients and blitz.
55 g Fresh basil, 22 g nutritional yeast, 1 teaspoon Maldon or Kosher Salt, 45 ml Olive oil
Stop every now and then and scrape down the sides of the processer
Blitz until smooth- taste for salt. Add more olive oil as needed.
Transfer to a glass jar & add a bit of olive oil over the top
Keep in the fridge and use in everything!

To make the Mushroom Pesto Pasta

Put plenty of water on to boil for the pasta
Gently toast your pine nuts (if using) in a dry, no oil skillet and set aside.
2 tablespoon pine nuts
Chop the mushrooms into large slices and place in the same dry (no oil) skillet or frying pan to cook.
250 g mushrooms
Chop the garlic and have your pesto ready to go (you can make your own pesto as per above, or use shop bought)
4 cloves garlic
Press the mushrooms down with the back of a wooden spoon/spatula so they really get into good contact with the heat. This releases their juices and gets them nice and brown.
By now your pasta water should be boiled, so add your pasta to the water, along with the pasta water salt and boil as per the pasta instructions.
180 g pasta, 1 teaspoon salt for boiling pasta
The mushrooms will be getting nice and crispy now, so add the chilli flakes (optional), olive oil and garlic and cook until the garlic softened.
1 teaspoon chili flakes, 1 tablespoon olive oil
Once your pasta is cooked through, scoop out a cup of water and put aside. Drain the pasta and put back into the pasta pot.
Add the pesto and a little of the pasta cooking water and mix well. Keep adding pesto and a drizzle at a time of pasta water until you have a nicely mixed in pesto.
3 tablespoon pesto
Add the mushrooms, a sprinkle of flakey sea salt and the toasted pine nuts and mix. You can reserve a few mushrooms and pine nuts to sprinkle on top to serve.
1 teaspoon flakey sea salt
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Notes

Nutritional Yeast is a cheesy flavoured sprinkle that is made from a strain of yeast that is grown on molasses. It's really high in B vitamins and makes a great alternative to parmesan cheese to sprinkle.

Nutrition