This week's new recipe is a vibrant and flavour-packed basil, oregano, and pistachio pesto spaghetti with fresh tomatoes, feta, and lemon.
It's super delicious and comes together in around 10-15 minutes. It's full of herbs, olive oil, tomatoes, and creamy feta, and has a delicious crunch from the addition of pistachios.
For a vegan version of this dish, use a vegan feta cheese substitute or simply omit the Greek feta. Many supermarkets and specialty stores offer a variety of vegan cheese options that work well in this recipe.
Hope you enjoy this one! Please let me know if you make it @gatherandfeast and feel free to ask any questions.
Ingredients
Vegetarian, Vegan options 
10 minutes preparation time + 12 minutes cooking time 
4-6 - 400g (roughly 2 punnets) cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
- 200g Greek feta, roughly chopped or crumbled into 2cm pieces
- Zest of 2 lemons
- Half a large bunch of oregano (about 3/4 cup leaves)
- Half a large bunch of basil (about 1 cup leaves)
- A generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
- Pinch of chili flakes to your taste
- Generous amount freshly cracked black pepper
- 500g spaghetti
Basil, Oregano & Pistachio Pesto
- Remaining half bunch of basil (roughly 1 cup each of leaves and soft stems)
- Remaining half bunch of oregano (roughly 1 cup each of leaves and soft stems)
- 1/4 cup shelled pistachios
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium to large-sized clove garlic
- Juice of half a lemon
- 1 teaspoon flakey sea salt
Method
- In a large serving bowl, combine the halved cherry tomatoes, Greek feta, lemon zest, chili flakes, freshly cracked black pepper, a generous drizzle of olive oil, and the roughly chopped half bunches of oregano and basil leaves.
- In a food processor, combine the remaining half bunches of oregano and basil, including soft and young oregano stems if available. Add the pistachios, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, and flakey sea salt. Blend until a rough paste forms.
- Cook the spaghetti according to the package instructions. Reserve some of the pasta water before draining.
- Drain the hot spaghetti and add it directly to the large serving bowl with the tomato and feta mixture.
- Add the pesto and a spoonful of the reserved pasta cooking water, then toss to combine.
- Serve topped with extra chopped pistachios, fresh herbs, and a drizzle of olive oil.
NOTE
When preparing the basil and oregano for the pesto, it's best to use the soft and young stems of oregano if available. If the oregano stems are hard and woody, discard them and use only the leaves.
For a vegan version of this dish, use a vegan feta cheese substitute or simply omit the Greek feta. Many supermarkets and specialty stores offer a variety of vegan cheese options that work well in this recipe.
Free Resources
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