29 Jun, 2016
Buckwheat pasta with broccoli, pesto and nut crumb
Buckwheat pasta is a great alternative to wheat based pastas. We have combined it with a delicious pesto that packs in fresh basil flavours and a cashew and fennel seed crumb that adds a crunchy texture and earthy notes.
RecipesIngredients
For the crumb
50g cashew nuts
1 handful chives
½ tsp fennel seeds
Pinch sea salt
Pinch cracked black pepper
1 tsp rapeseed oil
175g buckwheat pasta
1 head broccoli
For the pesto
50g sunflower seeds
2 handfuls spinach
1 bunch basil
1 handful flat leaf parsley, remove the stalks
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 tsp sea salt
Method
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
To make the crumb, place all the ingredients in a food processor and blitz to a coarse consistency. Then tip them onto a baking tray and roast for 8-10 minutes until the nuts are lightly golden. (You can keep this in an airtight jar for 2 weeks).
Fill a large saucepan with water and bring to the boil.
While the water is coming to the boil, cut the broccoli into small pieces and place them in a food processor, blitz to a fine consistency and set aside.
Once the water is simmering, add a good pinch of salt and add in the pasta. Follow the instructions on the packet, buckwheat pasta normally takes about 5 minutes to cook. 1 minute before the pasta is cooked tip in the broccoli. Then drain in a sieve (make sure it is a sieve not a colander otherwise you will lose the small pieces of broccoli down the sink). Drizzle with olive oil and set aside.
Place all the ingredients for the pesto in the food processor (you don’t have to worry about washing it our since using it for the broccoli) and blitz until the pesto is smooth. Mix this through the pasta and finally sprinkle with the crumb to serve.
