Pesto Dream Sauce

With all the rain we've had recently, interspersed with hot, sunny days, the garden has been doing pretty well. The basil was growing so well that the plants were starting to crowd one another, so Andy did some major thinning, and we were left with a whole lotta basil that needed to be used. We were having sweet potato croquettes for dinner, and I had planned on making some sort of gravy, but we decided pesto cream sauce would be a much better idea.

The croquettes are simply mashed cannellini beans, white sweet potato, frozen spinach, grated carrots, fresh corn, and onion. On their own, they were quite ordinary, but with the addition of creamy pesto deliciousness, they were an amazing dinner (and lunch the next day).

Here’s the recipe:

What you need:

2 T. olive oil or margarine
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/3 c. plain flour
2-3 c. (low fat) non-dairy milk, depending on how thick you want it
1/3 c. minced fresh basil
2 T. ground almonds
¼ c. nutritional yeast flakes
salt and pepper to taste

What you do:

In a medium saucepan, heat oil or margarine over medium-low heat. Sautee garlic for 2 to 3 minutes. Whisk in flour and try to keep it from being lumpy. Cook flour to 3 to 4 minutes, and then whisk in a little bit of milk. When mixture is smooth, whisk in the remaining milk and stir constantly until sauce thickens to your liking. Remove from heat, stir in basil, almonds and nut yeast. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

The next day we ate the cold leftovers, which had thickened up quite a lot. This made a great addition to bean and veggie wraps—tomatoey refried kidney beans, corn, spinach, and capsicum.