Do you already know Niven Kunz? He’s one of my favorite chefs in the world! He creates all his dishes around vegetables. So he makes the vegetables the stars of the show! He has his own Michelin star restaurant near The Hague, and I once had a delicious dinner there. Now he made it very easy for you to prepare his favorite dishes at home as he has just released his new cookbook with the applicable name ‘Groente!’ (Vegetable!).
After his previous cookbook ‘NIVEN 80/20’ he ones shows that 80% of your meal can consist of vegetables and that it’s cool, easy and exciting. The recipes in the book are easy to make, don’t have an extensive list of ingredients and the ingredients are available in a regular (super)market.
The cookbook is in Dutch (sorry for my International visitors) but I’ve made one of the dishes from the book and I’m sharing the recipe with you in English.
I’ve made his pasta pesto with spinach recipe, although I did adjust it a little bit. Unlike you might expect, many of Niven’s recipes do contain meat. But as it’s never the main ingredient, it’s easy to leave out or replace with something else. In the original recipe Niven used chicken but I just replaced it with some toasted pine nuts.
I also used whole wheat pasta instead of the regular farfalle that Kunz used. I always try to use whole grains as they contain more fibers.
If you’re short on time you can use store bought pesto for this recipe, but I have to say that homemade pesto tastes so much better! Vegan? Try my vegan pesto recipe.
Niven Kunz’ Vegan Pasta Pesto with Spinach
Serves 4
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:
30 grams fresh basil leaves
2 tbs pine nuts, toasted
1/2 garlic clove
30 grams parmesan cheese
75 ml olive oil
Salt and pepper
400 grams pasta of your choice (Niven used farfalle, I used whole wheat Fusilli)
1 shallot, finely chopped
1/2 garlic clove, crushed
200 grams spinach, washed
2 tbs pine nuts, toasted
Mix all the ingredients for the pesto with a stick blender or a mortar. Start with the dry ingredients and then add olive oil until the desired consistency.
Cook the pasta as stated on the package and drain. Shortly fry the shallot and garlic in a pan and add to the pasta. Mix the pasta with the spinach and the pesto. Serve with the toasted pine nuts.
Gotten curious about this cookbook? You can order Groente! here.
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