This one comes right from Ellie Krieger who posted a recipe on our site, Craving Ellie.
This is the dish Ellie recommended to our group this week.
Recipe for May 5th: Whole Grain Spaghetti with Roasted Tomato and Almond Pesto
Olive oil cooking spray
1 1/3 pounds ripe plum tomatoes, cored, seeded and quartered (about 6 medium) or 1 15 ounce can fire-roasted tomatoes, drained
1/3 cup blanched sliced almonds
1 medium clove of garlic
1/3 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves, plus more for garnish
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
¼ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
1 pound Whole Grain Spaghetti (note: I like Barilla)-If using fresh tomatoes, Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray a baking tray with cooking spray. Place the tomatoes on the tray and roast in the oven for 30 minutes, until they are soft and slightly charred. When the tomatoes are nearly done, bring a large pot of water to a boil.
-In a medium dry skillet, toast the almonds over a medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until they are golden and fragrant, 3-4 minutes.
-Transfer the nuts to a food processor, add the garlic and process until they are finely ground.
-Add the roasted or canned tomatoes, basil, vinegar and pepper flakes to the processor. As the processor is running, drizzle in the olive oil in a steady stream.
-Add the parmesan cheese and ¼ teaspoon salt and pulse to combine.
-Add the pasta to the water and cook according to the directions on the package. Drain and return the pasta to the pasta pot or to a serving bowl. Add the sauce and toss to combine.
-Season with additional salt to taste. Serve garnished with whole basil leaves.
–Makes 6 servings, Serving size: 1 ¼ cups, Prep time: 12 minutes, Cooking time: 36 minutes
My adjustments:
I used the fire roasted canned tomatoes since, this time of year, the fresh ones don’t seem to have much flavor.
I toasted my almonds on foil in the toaster oven. It was one less dish to clean.
Ted asked “Is there any protein in tonight’s Ellie recipe?” UGH! …. I added a 12 oz. can of water packed tuna for Ted’s sake.
We both agreed the pesto was outrageously tasty.
This is a good pasta to serve at room temperature. Expect a lot of flavor and a new recipe to add to your list of favorites.
Thanks Ellie. Hope you visit often and keep leaving a recipe trail.
CookBook Sale: Buy one, get second 50% off, offer expires 5/17/11!
Almond pesto…..never would of thought of that but I LOVE almonds so that looks like a great recipe. And I totally agree with you on teh tomatoes not having flavour, I can’t wait for the summer to get local tomatoes and ones straight from my garden, now those have alot of flavour 😉
We loved this, too! I thought about putting some shrimp in this for protein, but I ended up just serving it vegetarian. Delicious!
This looks and sounds like a wonderful recipe. This is my first visit to your site and I’ve spent some time exploring some of your earlier posts. I really like the food and recipes you feature here and I’ll definitely be back. I hope you have a great day. Blessings…Mary
How cool that Ellie came to your site!
I am so mad at myself. I meant to make this last night and it just totally slipped my mind. And Ellie’s pick at that. Maybe I can get it made this weekend. We have to visit a friend in the hospital tonight. It looks delicious. I bet you loved it!
Looks glorious! We loved it. I had mine just as Ellie wrote it and it was perfect. Since my swimmer swims 5.5 hours a day, I had to get some protein in him so I had a serving of meatballs on the side for the guys here and they loved it that way, too. Win, win. Wasn’t it fun to have a recipe from Ellie? I’m star struck…lol!
This recipe sounds so good, and I think it’s so cool that Ellie picked it herself. What a treat for the group! I hope she will pick a recipe again for us in the future so I can participate with you guys. And silly Ted 🙂
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This sounds great… whats not to love its all so healthy! Great pesto!
The pesto was good enough to eat by the spoon. Maybe that is why my pasta was dry, I ate too much pest.
Keeper!!
I just love pasta, and always looking for new recipes. They sounds like perfectly wonderful whole grain pasta to me! Thanks for sharing.
Yummy, these pasta look so tasty. You can’t go wrong with cheese and tomato. Thanks for sharing!