Browsing Tag

pesto

Smashed Roast Potatoes with Pesto

Posted on June 23, 2021

VeganCrispy Smashed Roast Potatoes with Pesto

Delicious and crispy smashed roasted potatoes with pesto and vegan cheese. Salty and crispy skin with a fluffy inside, this is a perfect side recipe or as part of a salad. It’s easy to make and full of flavour with just a few key ingredients needed.

What’s in the recipe?

Baby Potatoes – I found these were the perfect size, however let’s not discriminate against potatoes. Just use whatever you have at hand, but if you have large taters, make sure to cut them smaller to make them easier to roast / bake.

Pesto- If you want to use fresh pesto, I have a recipe HERE. However if you have a jar of good quality pesto that will also work really well.

Olive Oil- I used a mix of olive oil and the oil you get in those jars of roasted preserved peppers. I love the combination of flavour however olive oil, with work beautifully. Don’t be shy of oil in this recipe, it helps get a beautifully crisp coating on the potatoes.

Tomatoes- Optional ingredient but I love adding tomatoes to the roasting tray for the last 20 minutes or so. They add a lovely sweetness to the tray bake.

Vegan Mozzarella- I love using Violife or Follow Your Heart mozzarella to add to the tray for the final five minutes of baking. It just gives a beautiful texture on top of the pesto.

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Smashed Roast Potatoes with Pesto

Delicious and crispy smashed roasted potatoes with pesto and vegan cheese. Salty and crispy skin with a fluffy inside, this is a perfect side recipe or as part of a salad.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 40

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

1 kg baby potatoes
1 tbsp sea salt
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
150 g fresh pesto
200 g chopped tomatoes
50 g vegan mozzarella
1 tsp parsley

Instructions

Add the baby potatoes into a pot of salted water, boil for 15 mins
Pop the oven on at 200°C (Fan)
When you can easily pierce the potatoes with a fork, drain the water then add to a non stick baking tray with 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil, 1 heaped tsp salt, mix until coated then smash the potatoes with the back of your fork or the bottom of a glass
Place on the middle tray in the oven for 20 minutes
Take out, then cover in 150g fresh pesto (recipe here) and 200g chopped tomatoes and place back in the oven for 20 minutes
Take out and garnish with vegan mozzarella and cook for a final 5 minutes

Notes

Optional - Garnish with pine nuts and parsley, or just enjoy as is! I like drizzling mine in a little chilli oil to finish

If you like this recipe why not try my Tofu and Asparagus Stir Fry

Lunch & Light Bites Recipe Sides & Savoury Snacks

4 Ingredient Vegan Pesto Cheese Twists

Posted on February 8, 2021

Easy Pesto & Cheese Twists

These vegan friendly pesto cheese twists are so easy to make, only have 4 main ingredients and are perfect for a treat, packed lunches or gatherings. Everyone will be going back for more, vegan or not!

Let’s get into the recipe

Puff pastry- Look if the Queen Mary Berry doesn’t always make her own pastry, I’m not going to either! There’s plenty of good quality shop bought pastry that is accidentally vegan. You can of course use a GF one if needs be.

Vegan Mozzarella- The vegan cheese world has come on leaps and bounds in the last few years. Follow Your Heart, Applewood, and Violife all have some pretty delicious vegan cheese options out on the market.

Pesto- You can of course make your own pesto, I have a few different recipes, but for this I’ve used a shop bought one (Sacla’s Vegan one) to keep this recipe as simple as possible.

Pine Nuts- I’ve added just a handful of pine nuts, you can swap this for blanched almonds, toasted walnuts or just skip the nuts completely.

Tamari- Optional ingredient but I use this to brush the pastry. It gives an amazing umami flavour to the crust as well as a beautiful golden colour. Just brush this on top before baking.

Cooking Tips

Spread the pesto, pine nuts and mozzarella on only half of the rolled out sheet of puff pastry

Fold the sheet over to create a sort of pesto filled sandwich

Slice down (either way) to create the strips, I ended up with around 12 but if you like, you can slice them a little thinner to get more

Pull apart the folds once twisted to expose the beautiful filling

Space the pastry strips apart to they don’t go soggy in the middle

Vegan Pesto Cheese Twists

Easy 4 ingredient puff pastry cheese twists filled with pesto, pine nuts and mozzarella (all vegan friendly). It takes around 10 minutes to make and 25 minutes to bake.

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 27

Servings 12 Twists

Ingredients

1 sheet or block of puff pastry
80 g jar of vegan Pesto around 3 heaped tbsp
80 g vegan mozzarella
handful of pine nuts around 50g
2 tbsp tamari to coat the pastry optional

Instructions

Roll out the block of pastry & spoon on the vegan pesto covering one half of the sheet
Scatter the pine nuts and mozzarella on top then fold over the other half on top
Slice to create the layered strips (you should end up with around 6-8 strips depending on whether you've folded lengthways or short ways)
Twist the pastry then place back on the sheet *tip, push the folds apart a little to allow the pesto to bubble through*
Brush with tamari to get a beautiful golden glaze on top
Bake at 200ºC for 25-30 minutes

Notes

If you don't have tamari to coat them with, use a vegan melted butter or olive oil.

If you like this recipe why not try my Vegan Sausage Rolls Recipe

Recipe

3 Easy Pesto Recipes

Posted on May 2, 2019

Making my own pesto was always something I thought of a task, especially when I could buy a range of options in jars cutting cost and time... however I have since come to realise this is all incorrect!

Nothing beats the taste or smell of fresh pesto whipped up in your kitchen. In terms of time and cost, it takes minutes to prepare and can be far cheaper when making in batches.

I've popped together some of my absolute favourite and no-fuss recipes for you to try at home. Whether you're dipping your carrots, coating your veggies or twirling it in your tagliatelle, you need to give these a go.

Method of cooking:

All these pestos can be eaten raw, slow roasted or added to your pasta dish in the last 5 minutes. It all depends how you like it.

Avocado & Pine Nut Pesto

Ingredients:

1 Avocado (I used a gem avocado)
2 cloves garlic
1 cup basil
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4, cup olive oil
Pinch of olive oil

Creamy Spinach Pesto

Ingredients:

1 cup baby spinach

1 cup fresh basil

1 clove garlic

1/4 cup cashew nuts (soaked or raw)

1/2 lemon squeezed

1/4 cup olive oil

large pinch salt

1 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)

Classic Pine Nut

Ingredients:

1/4 cup pine nuts

1 cup fresh basil

1/4 cup good quality olive oil

1/2 squeezed fresh lemon

1 large clove smoked garlic

Large pinch salt

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

As always, I love seeing your recreations on social media, so please be sure to tag me in any photos to take of your food!

Maybe you have a favourite pesto recipe, or a top tip to share... let me know in the comments!