Homemade Cilantro Basil Pesto Pasta with Shrimp
I really find joy in cooking. Since being at home all day, I especially enjoy having warm, hearty dinners full of vegetables and whole foods. I don’t follow recipes precisely, but I do find a lot of inspiration by looking at ingredients, or photos on Pinterest.
Whatever catches my eyes, I switch a few ingredients and make it my own.
This recipe turned out better than expected. I didn’t have enough ingredients to make a regular pesto, so I just winged it with the other ingredients. Pesto pasta in general is one of my favorite dinners. It’s rich and tasty and seasonless. You can basically enjoy it all year round!
You will need:
1 cup of basil
1 cup of finely chopped cilantro
2 garlic cloves
1 cups of pine nuts (1/2 for the pesto mix, and the other 1/2 for cooking)
4 tbs of olive oil
1/4 of any unsweetened non-dairy milk (I used oatmilk, but coconut milk would be creamier and delicious as well)
2 cups of peeled shrimp
Salt Pepper
1/2 lemon (zested)
Grated parmesan or pecorino cheese.
Instructions:
In a blender, add the basil, garlic cloves, 1/2 cup of pine nuts, olive oil, non-dairy milk, lemon zest, salt and pepper, and blend. It should be a bright green cream.
In the meantime, in a saucepan add the shrimp with olive oil salt and pepper. If you are using pre-cooked shrimps, sautée for a couple of minutes. If using raw, pass them through boiling water first until they turn pink, and then proceed to sauteing. You don’t want to overcook the shrimp, or they will have a chewy consistency.
Add pesto cream to the shrimps, and add the cilantro. Mix all together for around 5 minutes at medium low heat.
Add the cooked pasta, the other half of pine nuts, and the cheese. I enjoy short pasta more than long, but it’s your choice. Rotini works perfectly on this recipe. Stir everything together and enjoy!
I found a bunch of cute kitchen accessories I normally use for this type of recipes, so I linked them all below!