CREAMY AVOCADO PESTO FARFALLE

     Lately I've been into pasta more than I've been into cakes for a weird reason, which is totally not myself. I try to stay away from creamy sauces, because I prefer red sauces to be honest and more recently I fell in love with pesto sauce once again. During the Lent before Easter time, I became familiar with it (minus the parmesan) all over again and tried different varieties of basil and spinach. 

     My last attempt involved a known superfood and champion of instagram, avocado. In 2017, who hasn't tried a delicious avocado toast in the morning? Very few people. Avocado has become so in that it got its own "everything-you-can-eat-with-avocado" restaurant in Amsterdam this year. Can you imagine eating an avocado burger? I mean, this fruit (yeah, it's a fruit) is so creamy when it's ready to be eaten, that I think it would fall apart in my hands. But anytime I'm going back to Amsterdam, I will check it out no matter what. 

     This healthy recipe is for everyone and especially people who like light tastes and go easy with the garlic. For ladies, it's a very quick solution for weekdays, when you want to eat something that doesn't taste like plastic and is also good for you. For me, I used whole wheat farfalle, but you can use plain farfalle if you find the taste a bit strange. Whole wheat pasta tend to be harder to chew and have a kind of bitter taste.

Creamy Avocado Pesto farfalle

ingredients (for 2 persons)

1 medium ripe avocado 

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 garlic cloves

1/2 cup basil leaves

1/4 cup roasted pine nuts or walnuts

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup grated parmesan

2 cups whole wheat farfalle 

How do I make it?

1. Boil your farfalle according to the instructions on the package. 

2. In a food processor, put the basil leaves, olive oil, garlic cloves, roasted pine nuts, salt and avocado. To carve the avocado, cut it in half with a sharp knife (be careful of the seed in the middle), use a spoon to take out the flesh of the avocado and throw the seed away. Mix all the ingredients really well for about 2 minutes. If needed stop the processor and scrape the sides of it.

3. In a big bowl, put the boiled farfalle and the sauce you made in the previous step. Use two spoons and mix very well so that the pesto goes everywhere.

4. Serve into two bowls and sprinkle some parmesan or walnuts on top if you want to.

SWEET POTATO TOAST WITH SPINACH PESTO AND AVOCADO

     Have you ever wanted time to pass so quickly that you don't realise it? This is the feeling I am dealing with these hectic days. I believe that I haven't been this tied inside the house since I was 20 or 22 studying for final exams in University. As I am going through a similar phase right now, studying for finals at University of Lucerne, I wonder... How do I get instantly to the 23rd of December on a plane to Paris? I know, I know...time passes by very quickly. Until then, though, one has to entertain oneself.

    If you are a young woman, standing 2,5 years apart from 30s, you put on some jazz music, pour yourself a glass of strong wine and start taking statistics quizes. Oh, how fun life can be when you are a student, right? But if you are also a foodie, you can put all your frustration in the kitchen to produce several delicious and caloric foods to consume, while studying for hours. This thought was in mind yesterday as I decided to try out a new kind of avocado toast rather than the plain old bread toast with smashed avocado and an egg on top (delicious though).

     This whole craze about sweet potato is not news. It has been out there in the world of foodies and food bloggers for a year or more I think, I don't keep track of those things. Not that I feel the peer pressure or anything, but I had to try it to see what the fuss was about and honestly I love sweet potato. The task if very simple, you have to simply pick a rather big sweet potato and cut slices, which then you toast in your favourite toaster or you can toast them in the oven if you are old school. I am sharing with you a trick to make the potatoes be cookes faster and this is trying to slice them a bit thin (not too much) about maybe 3cm or as thick as a slice of bread would be.

Sweet Potato toast with spinach Pesto and avocado

ingredients (for 1 person)

2 thin slices of raw sweet potato (hint: try to cut the potato in half and then with a big knife try to take a slice with 3cm thickness on average)

1/2 of small avocado

2-3 tablespoons homemade spinach pesto (recipe below)

sea salt

lemon juice

optional: pumpkin seeds

How do I make it?

1. If you have a toaster, put it on medium toasting and toast your sweet potatoes as you would normally do with bread. After the first round, repeat. Check to see if the poato seems cooked. It will have a very bright orange color. If it's not cooked repeat toasting. Remember to have rather thin slices.

2. Take your slices out of the toaster. Spread a tablespoon or two on top. 

3. Slice have an avocado in small slices and put them on top of the pesto.

4. Season with sea sal and a splash of lemon juice. Sprinkle some pumpkin seeds if desired.

Easy spinach pesto

ingredients (for 2 cups of pesto)

4 cups of fresh spinach cleaned and drained

1 1/2 cup extra virgin oil

1/4 cup walnuts

2-3 cloves of garlic

1 teaspoon sea salt

(extra olive oil if needed)

How do I make it?

1. Place all of your ingredients in a food processor. Mix on high speed for a few minutes. 

2. Stop the processor and check for saltiness and liquidity. You want your pesto to be a bit liguid, but not too much. For this reason I suggest putting the 1 cup of olive oil first and then add the rest of it and see how it goes.

3.  Store in  glass jar or enjoy immediately with some fresh boiled pasta (my favourite!). Remember to stir the sauce a bit everytime you use it because the oils tend to stand on the surface.