Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe for beans and greens with tomato and cashew pesto

From theguardian.com

Tomatoes and cashews take the stage in this unconventional pesto that includes nutritional yeast for those essential umami notes and that goes with just about anything

Although the law of diminishing returns should dictate otherwise, no matter how much pesto I eat, I can never get enough. Potentially, this is due to its ability to shapeshift and move between herbs and nuts. You can make a great pesto with basil, rocket, coriander or wild garlic, and with walnuts, almonds and even peanuts. Here, I’ve made one using cashews and sun-dried tomatoes alongside basil leaves and nutritional yeast (in place of the traditional parmesan). The butter beans, chard and leeks are merely vehicles, to aid my general pesto intake.

Beans and greens with tomato and cashew pesto

Photograph: Louise Hagger/The Guardian. Food styling: Emily Kydd. Prop styling: Jennifer Kay. Food styling assistant: Susanna Unsworth. Photo assistant: Sophie Bronze.

Prep 10 min

Cook 30 min
Serves 4

130g sun-dried tomatoes (drained weight)
50g cashew nuts
40g fresh basil, leaves and tender stems
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
Extra-virgin olive oil
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
Salt
2 leeks (200g), trimmed and cut into ½cm-thick coins
2 x 400g tins butter beans, not drained
200g rainbow chard, shredded into 1cm-wide strips
1 fresh long red chilli, stalk discarded, flesh finely diced
Warm crusty bread, to serve

Put the first five ingredients in a small blender with five tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil, the lemon zest, three tablespoons of lemon juice and a teaspoon and a half of salt, then blitz until very finely chopped.

Put two tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil in a large frying pan for which you have a lid, and set it on a medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the leeks, and cook, stirring occasionally, for eight minutes, until softened. Add the beans and their can liquid to the pan, then simmer for 10 minutes, until the liquid reduces and the beans soften.

Stir in the chard and the sun-dried tomato pesto, cover and leave to cook for 10 minutes, until the chard stalks are tender. Stir in the chopped chilli.

Spoon the beans into shallow bowls, drizzle over more extra-virgin olive oil and serve with warm crusty bread for mopping up.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2024/jan/27/vegan-recipe-beans-greens-tomato-cashew-pesto-butter-beans-and-greens-meera-sodha