Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomato Chickpea Pesto
You would never guess that this smooth and creamy pasta sauce is dairy free. The secret comes from using dried chickpeas. It may take a bit longer (24hr prep time), but its well worth the effort.
Process the ingredients together in a mini food processor until smooth, adding in as much of the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes until the mixture is creamy (but still thick).
The sun-dried tomatoes and their oil turn this pesto a beautiful orange color.
Add pesto in with pasta, along with enough of the reserved pasta water until the sauce is the consistency you want. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and garnish with parsley.
Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomato & Chickpea Pesto
You would never guess that this smooth and creamy pasta sauce is dairy free.
Ingredients
- ½ cup dried chickpeas
- ½ cup unsalted cashews roasted
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 10 oz oil packed sun-dried tomatoes reserve the oil
- 2 Tbsp fresh Italian parsley chopped
- Salt and pepper
- 8 oz GF pasta
Instructions
- To prepare dried chickpeas: combine chickpeas with 2 cups of water and place in a bowl. Allow to soak overnight at room temperature. Drain, rinse well, then transfer to pot with 3 cups of water and bring to boil for 5 minutes. Reduce to a simmer, then cook for an additional 45 minutes. Drain.
- Cook pasta until al dente, reserving 1 cup of pasta water. Drain, rinse, and place back in pot.
- In a food processor, combine cooked chickpeas and remaining ingredients, except parsley, and process until smooth. Add in as much of the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes until the mixture is smooth and creamy (but still thick).
- Add pesto in with pasta, along with enough reserved pasta water until the sauce is the consistency you want. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and garnish with parsley.
Notes
You can use 1 cup of canned chickpeas (rinsed) for a quicker version, but you won’t get the smooth and creamy texture as you will by using the dried ones.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Did you use raw cashews and if so were they soaked?
I used roasted cashews that you get in the cans. Apparently you can buy ‘raw’ cashews from health food stores, but they have actually been steamed (to remove their toxin-urushiol). I don’t think you’d need to steam the ‘raw’ ones, but let me know if you try them in this recipe and how it turned out.
Could you use canned chickpeas instead of dried? Would sure cut back on the prep time and it’s something I always have on hand for a quick salad base.
Thank you Marla. I love pasta and your recipe sounds delicious! I will get back to you to let you know how we liked it. Hugs, Annitta
Of course you can, no problem. Although if you’ve never tried using dried ones (especially when making hummus), you’ll be amazed how much more creamy in texture they are then the canned ones. You don’t have that texture from the ‘skins’ – regardless how much you puree it. But either way, it will still taste great!