Lemony Zucchini Pesto Pasta With Chard & Roasted Tomatoes
Ingredients
Tomatoes
- 1 lb heirloom cherry tomatoes
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 sprig of rosemary
- pinch of salt
Pesto
- 2 cups of basil
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/2 cup [aflink u="http://amzn.to/1uGq3db"]raw cashews[/aflink]
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 cup peccorino cheese
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Juice of 1/2 a lemon
- Pinch of salt
Pasta
- 1 tsp salt (to prep noodles)
- Olive oil , for the pan
- 6 medium zucchinis, [aflink u="http://amzn.to/Yr1dnL"]spiralized[/aflink] into noodles
- 1 bunch of rainbow chard, chopped (stems included)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add your tomatoes and peeled cloves of garlic to a baking dish. Sprinkle with salt, drizzle with olive oil and add in the rosemary. Roast for 35-45 minutes or until the tomatoes begin to wrinkle and burst. Remove from oven and set aside.
- While your tomatoes are roasting, spiralize the zucchini into noodles. Add your zucchni noodles along with 1 tbs of salt to a colander. Toss your noodles and allow them to drain out any excess water (which the salt will help to leech out) for 25 minutes or so. After time has passed, rinse the noodles thoroughly and squeeze them. Place them onto paper towels or a clean dry dish rag and dry them further. Set aside. Chop up the rainbow chard and set aside.
- In a food processor, add the basil, olive oil, cashews, garlic, cheese, lemon and salt. Process on high until pesto forms. If it is not coming together easily, add a bit more olive oil and process again.
- Add some olive oil to a hot cast iron skillet. Saute the rainbow chard over medium heat until wilted. Add in the zucchini noodles and cook until they have softened just a bit. Add the pesto and incorporate into the noodles. Top the skillet with roasted tomatoes. Now it's ready to serve. I like to serve it up with an extra dollop of pesto and a bit of peccorino shaved freshly on top!
