A vegan recipe by Home cook Stefy Zammit
Serves 2
Prep time 90 mins
Ingredients
1 large aubergine
4 capsicums
for the vegan Almond pesto
100g fresh basil leaves
200g almonds
2 tbsp. nutritional yeast
1 lime
1 lemon
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 clove garlic
for the fresh tomato sauce
8 large tomatoes
1 clove garlic
Seasoning
Olive oil
1tsp. dried chillies
1 jar sundried pesto
Method
for the tomato sauce
Add some oil and garlic to a pan. Add the dried chillies. Wash and roughly chop the tomatoes and add them to the pan. Cook them on a medium heat for around 40 minutes, reduce the heat and let them simmer. Add the jar of sundried chili paste and mix all together. Season and turn off the heat. (You’ll have enough sauce to set aside some and freeze for another time.)
Wash and slice the aubergine. Get a griddle pan and add some oil. Cook the slices on a high heat on both sides. Place the slices on a plate with some kitchen towel and set them aside. Chop up the capsicums. Place them on a baking dish with some olive oil and cook them at 160C for around fifteen minutes. Remove and set aside.
for the pesto
Get your blender and add the washed basil leaves. Add the almonds together with the nutritional yeast and some of the olive oil and blend until the nuts are completely crushed and you get a vibrant green paste. Add the juice from the lemon and lime and add a crushed garlic clove too. Add the rest of the oil and mix once more. Just add some more oil should you wish. You now have a homemade jar of pesto for the rest of the week as you only need to use two tablespoons for this recipe.
In a blender add the capsicums, two tablespoons of the pesto and some fresh mint. Pulse a few times just to incorporate the ingredients. Get the cooked aubergine slices and start layering your dish. Add the capsicums on top of the aubergine and then a tablespoon of tomato sauce.
Layer once more and repeat the process. You can either add some fresh pecorino or should you wish to keep the dish vegan sprinkle some more nutritional yeast on the top. Serve and with these quantities you can serve two generous portions.
