Fuseli with Roasted Beetroot Pesto

If you follow my blog by now you must know how much I love beets (beetroot), thus having quite a decent variety of beetroot recipes here and the best thing – ‘ I am not a beetroot fan’ DH also likes beets now and brings it without fail on his every trip to Little India.  Always I will make beetroot dal of one beetroot and another one either beets masala or experiment recipe. This time I wanted to try something new and end up making beetroot pesto.

  This pesto was actually better than I thought, roasted beetroot flavour is amazing and lemon adds the extra zing plus helps to reduce beets sweetness. Cashew bring creamy texture to pesto as you can see in the pictures, I didn’t add cheese in pesto just used a little for garnishing.   Beets pesto can be serve along pasta or use as dip or as a spread over bread, making it a beautiful versatile recipe.  If you like me or want to try something different and interesting with beetroot then you have to try this ..oh ya it does taste just so wonderful. 


Ingredients: [Serves 4-5]
For Beetroot Pesto
Beetroot – 1 (around 300gms)
Cashew nuts – 1/2 cup
Chopped Garlic – 1/2 tbsp
Olive Oil – 1/4 cup [I used extra virgin]
Lemon Juice - 2 tbsp [divided]
Parmesan Cheese – 3 tbsp + for garnishing
Salt & Pepper – To taste
Water – 2-3 tbsp [if required]
For Pasta [ for 2 person]
Fuseli – 2 cups [ or use any variety of pasta]
Salt – 1/2 tsp
Oil – 1 tsp
Water – To boil pasta

Method:
To make Pesto
1. Wash and roast beetroot over on stove top or boil it.

Or you can roast beets on oven.  If roasting in oven, slice beetroot, brush slices with oil and roast in 200C preheated oven for 30-40 minutes or until beets gets cooked, turn beets slice in 10 minutes interval so it’s gets cooked properly.

~ If you roast whole beets it will take around 1hour+ to cook.
2. Take beets out of oven and let it cool, when it’s cool enough to handle peel skin and chop beets. [If your beetroot is cooked properly the skin will come out easily]
4. Add chopped beets and all other ingredients (reserve 1 tbsp lemon juice)  in a mixer or blender & pulse into smooth paste/pesto.  Add 2-3 tbsp of water if required to pulse into smooth pesto.  [ I added 2 tbsp water]. 
Looks how creamy and beautiful it looks, I just loved it

And our pesto is ready to use.

To cook Pasta
4.  Bring a large pot/pan half filled with water to boil, add salt, oil & pasta and cook as per instruction in pack or around 10-12 minutes in medium flame until al dente (cooked and tender to tooth).
5. Drain pasta and reserve 1/2 cup to 1 cup of water, rinse pasta under tap water, toss and keep aside.
For Assembly
You can place cooked pasta on a plate and add pesto on top, sprinkle little parmesan cheese on top.

OR add reserve water and pesto in pan, bring it boil, add cooked pasta, mix everything well.  Add reserve 1 tbsp lemon juice and off flame. garnish with cheese.  Let the pasta sit for 10 minutes before you dig in.

Have it with salad or soup to make it a filling meal.  You can serve this pasta along lemon wedge if anyone want to reduce beetroot sweetness.

Pesto stay good for 2 day if refrigerated.  And to know what I did with my leftover pesto, stay tune..I have something interesting to share
Have a nice day ~~