The Best Thing I Ever Ate: Pasta and Salad

I made my version of Chef Chole's Avocado Pesto Pasta two weeks ago. Chloe won a Food Network Cupcake Wars earlier this year. The judges RAVED about her cupcakes (and her competition was like, "What the hell? Vegan? How good could they be?) I've made vegan cupcakes and cakes, and they are truly better than traditional versions.

Chole's win piqued my curiosity about her food, so I gave her pasta a try.

As I was eating it, I kept saying, "This is good...No, this is really good...Man, this fantastic!" It became clear this was the best pasta I'd ever had. But when I ate it alone, it was good, not "The Best Pasta Ever." I realized it was the salad dressing plus the pasta that made it "The Best Pasta and Salad I Ever Ate." Make both of them together!

The creaminess of the pesto matched with the sharpness of apple cider vinegar in the salad dressing explode on the tongue. They go together like peanut butter and jelly.

You know how Cookie Monster says, "Cookies are a sometimes food!" This pasta and salad combo are a sometimes food. It has avocados, cashews, and oil. All of those are good fats, but they are fats nonetheless.

I got some GF linguine and went to town. Chloe's version (see below) has pine nuts. I am allergic to them (and they are expensive! $10.00 for 8 ounces of nuts??) so I went with cashews.

Althea's Version of Avocado Pesto Pasta
Pesto is (GF) and (RV)
Ingredients

• 1 pound linguine, get GF if you have allergies (for fully raw vegan, use carrots, zucchini, or butternut squash, or yellow squash)
• 1 bunch fresh basil, reserve some leaves for garnish
• ½ cup raw cashews
• 2 avocados, pitted and peeled
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 5-6 cloves garlic
• ½ cup olive oil
• nutritional yeast, to taste
• Sea salt, to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper

Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Add linguine and cook according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, make the pesto by combining basil, cashews, avocados, lemon juice, garlic, nutritional yeast, and oil in a food processor. Process until smooth. Season generously with salt and pepper. Add more salt, pepper, nutritional yeast, and/or garlic as needed.
Toss pasta with pesto. Divide pasta among serving bowls and garnish each serving with a basil leaf.

Body Ecology Diet Salad Dressing (RV) (GF)

• 2/3 cup organic unrefined oils(a combo of EVOO, flaxseed, or an flaxseed/evening primose blend)(I use EVOO only)
• 1/3 cup organic apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice)
• 1 tsp. Celtic sea salt

Place all ingredients in a container and shake vigorously or put in blender. Use on top of your favorite salad. Or, as you see in my photos, fresh tomatoes.

Put the pasta and salad on a plate or bowl together. Throw some fresh cilantro on top of your salad too, or extra basil. Oh, it's so good.

Chef Chole's version

http://www.chefchloe.com/

Avocado Pesto Pasta (V)

Pesto is (GF) and (RV)

Ingredients

• 1 pound linguine
• 1 bunch fresh basil, reserve some leaves for garnish
• ½ cup pine nuts
• 2 avocados, pitted and peeled
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 3 cloves garlic
• ½ cup olive oil
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes or sliced sun-dried tomatoes (optional)

Preparation

Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Add linguine and cook according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, make the pesto by combining basil, pine nuts, avocados, lemon juice, garlic, and oil in a food processor. Process until smooth. Season generously with salt and pepper.
Toss pasta with pesto. For an extra touch of color and flavor, top pasta with cherry or sun-dried tomatoes. Divide pasta among serving bowls and garnish each serving with a basil leaf.

Love,
Althea

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The Best Thing I Ever Ate: Pasta and Salad