Rich and creamy pesto pasta with a light and refreshing flavour.

I love pesto. Like seriously love pesto. With a mix of fresh flavours, you can make it with almost anything. Try it with sundried tomatoes, basil, spinach or avocados. Any way you make it, pesto is a quick, easy and crave-worthy sauce.

Traditional pesto sauce has a wonderful herb and nutty taste. To replicate that, Mint Pesto is made with pistachios. With a distinct green colour and nutty crunch, pistachios are a perfect addition to fresh mint. Add a splash of lemon juice, a clove of garlic, and some cottage cheese, and you have a distinctly refreshing and creamy sauce.

Mint Pesto is a quick and easy dinner dish. All you need is six ingredients and in no time, dinner is done. First, you’ll want to sauté the garlic. This helps to lessen the bite of the garlic, creating a deliciously mellow flavour. After that, add garlic, lemon, mint, cottage cheese and a little reserved pasta water to the food processor. Within minutes, your sauce is done. Easy, right?

If you have any left over, Mint Pesto is delicious hot or cold the next day. The flavours continue to compliment each other. This dish just gets better and better.

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Mint Pesto

A delicious 30-minute pasta dish that’s filled with a wonderful mix of refreshing flavours. Packed with mint, pistachios, cottage cheese, garlic and lemon, this distinctive sauce has a really refreshing nutty bite.

Author: Jessica
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 15 mins
Total Time: 25 mins
Yield: 4-5 1x

Ingredients

Scale

1 (12 ounce) package pasta
3/4 cup fresh mint
1/2 cup pistachios, shelled
1/4 cup low fat cottage cheese
1 clove garlic, quartered
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tomato, chopped (optional)

Instructions

Cook pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1/4 cup of pasta water. Drain and set aside.
In a small pan, sauté garlic for 1 to 2 minutes, or until lightly browned.
In a food processor, combine mint, pistachios, cottage cheese, pasta water, garlic and lemon juice. Process until well combined.
Transfer cooked pasta to serving bowl. Toss with sauce.
To give the pasta a little extra texture and sweetness, top it with diced tomatoes.
Plate and enjoy!