Courgette 'pasta' with kale, basil and sun-dried tomato pesto

Ingredients

• 4 medium courgettes 
• 40g raw almonds 
• 40g kale, roughly chopped, tough stalks discarded 
• 40g basil leaves, plus a few extra to serve 
• 8 sun-dried tomatoes (not in oil), rehydrated in warm water for 10 minutes 
• Juice of 1 lemon 
• 1 tbsp olive oil 
• 100g baby plum tomatoes, halved 
• Freshly ground black pepper

Method

To make the ‘pasta’, shred the courgettes using a julienne peeler to create strands, or a regular vegetable peeler to form ribbons. Set aside in a large bowl.

Put the almonds in a food processor and pulse until they have broken up into smaller pieces. Add the kale, basil, drained tomatoes and lemon juice and pulse again to create a thick paste. 

Add the olive oil and blend again. If the mixture is a little thick, add 1 tbsp or so of cold water.

Stir the pesto through the courgette ‘pasta’ with the baby plum tomatoes and serve scattered with plenty of black pepper and a few extra basil leaves.

Avoiding wheat?

Try this appealing wheat-free ‘pasta’ dish that’s packed with flavour. For anyone with coeliac disease, wheat allergy or gluten sensitivity, food choices are limited, unless you pay over the odds for ‘gluten-free’ alternatives, which are typically higher in fat due to product flavour modifications used to compensate for the removal of gluten. Gluten is found in so many products – bread, cereals, pasta, pizza and soy sauce, to name but a few. The innovative use of vegetables can help to make a gluten-free diet that much more interesting.

Recipe extracted from The Breast Cancer Cookbook by Professor Mohammed Keshtgar (Quadrille £20) Photography: Jan Baldwin.