This Asparagus Tomato Pasta with Oregano Hazelnut Pesto is a delicious seasonal vegetarian easy meal idea – perfect for lunch or dinner.
ASPARAGUS TOMATO PASTA WITH OREGANO HAZELNUT PESTO
Asparagus season is in full swing and today I am sharing a super quick and delicious recipe for Asparagus Tomato Pasta with Oregano Hazelnut Pesto. This seasonal dish only takes about 30 minutes to put together and makes a light vegetarian meal perfect to enjoy on a warm spring day.
If you grow your own herbs making a pesto is one of the best ways to use them. And I am not just talking about basil. A little while ago I made parsley pesto, simply by swapping basil for parsley. In today’s recipe my herb of choice is oregano and I used hazelnuts instead of more traditional pine nuts.
Fresh oregano is very different from its dried equivalent, a lot more subtle and with less bitter notes. It pairs extremely well with lightly toasted hazelnuts, which give this pesto a lovely nutty sweetness. Plus hazelnuts are cheaper than pine nuts. The pesto takes only a minute to prepare and the proportions used in this recipe make a generous amount, enough for 4 large portions. Any leftovers can be stored in a jar in the fridge for a few days).
Roasting is a great way of preparing vegetables! It really brings out their flavour and is also a very easy cooking method. You can roast both the asparagus and the tomatoes in the same tray, provided it’s large enough. The tomatoes, however, will need a little more time in the oven (see my Instructions below). To save time boil the pasta and make the pesto while the vegetables are roasting.
This Asparagus Tomato Pasta with Oregano Hazelnut Pesto really is a super convenient vegetarian lunch or dinner idea.
Fan of asparagus? Try my Mushroom Asparagus Potato Casserole with Herbs!
If you like this recipe you might enjoy this Spaghetti with Parsley Avocado Pesto.
Have you shared your recipe with #CookBlogShare this week yet? I have:)
This recipe was also shared with Meat Free Mondays, Inspire Me Monday, Spring Crafts, Mix It Up Monday, Melt In Your Mouth Monday, Made By You Mondays, What’d You Do This Weekend and Fiesta Friday
See also 10+ Best Healthy Vegetarian Pasta Recipes
- Pasta of your choice enough for 4 cooked in salted water with 1 bay leaf (I used egg and spinach tagliatelle) - boil the pasta while the vegetables are in the oven
- 300 g asparagus
- 400 g cherry tomatoes
- Olive oil for drizzling
- 25 g fresh oregano leaves only
- 50 g hazelnuts lightly toasted
- 1/2 cup good vegetable oil I used cold pressed rapeseed
- 1 garlic clove finely chopped
- 30 g parmesan or similar, finely grated
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
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Preheat the oven to 400 F/ 200 C/ gas mark 6. You will need a large baking tray.
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Cut the tomatoes in half, place open side up on a baking tray in a single layer. Season and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Bake for 30 minutes.
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Remove from the oven half way through roasting, add the asparagus (snap off and discard the woody ends first), spread in a single layer, season and drizzle with a little olive oil and pop back in the oven for another 15 minutes.
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To make the Pesto, combine the oregano, hazelnuts, garlic, parmesan and rapeseed oil, season to taste and blend to a slightly grainy consistency (make the pesto while the vegetables are in the oven, to save time). The pesto can also be made ahead and refrigerated (it will stay fresh for several days).
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Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper and enjoy!
A Delicious Vegetarian Spring Dish! Pin It!
This sounds absolutely delicious Monika, and I love how beautiful your images are of it too. What a great idea to vary your pesto and I’m also intregued that you used a bay leaf when cooking your pasta – I can imagine it brings another lovely flavour. pinning.
Angela x
Thank you Angela! I’ve developed a habit of cooking pasta and potatoes (especially if I am going to mash them) with a bay leaf, most of the time, it goes with most things I cook.
Oh my goodness – that looks amazing! we are big fans of asparagus here and are even growing our own now! Saved this one for later! Yum! Thanks for sharing x
Thank you! I envy you being able to grow your own vegetables, the best I can do at the moment is grow herbs:)
This looks great!
Thank you:)
This looks delicious! I love adding seasonal veggies to pasta
Thank you! Me too, whenever possible:)
This looks and sounds so delicious! I absolutely love the idea of using oregano in pesto. I will have to give that a try one day. Thanks for linking it up to #CookBlogShare 🙂 Eb x
Thanks Eb! I am spoiled for choice with herbs this year, have so many growing in my garden I’ll have to make another pesto soon:)
I’ll have to try using oregano in pesto. We have a pot growing in our garden but it’s not a herb I tend to use a lot of. Not for any reason though so I’m sure I’ll be using it in some pesto soon. Your dish looks beautifully fresh too!
Thank you! I never used to use a lot of oregano either but now I’ve got all these herbs growing in the garden I am finding all sorts of dishes for them. I don’t know why we haven’t planted the herbs earlier:)
Wow, this looks delicious. I love asparagus and pesto, Ive never put them together before… and now I don’t know why! Oregano pesto sounds amazing. Oregano grows quite well in our garden so I will definitely whizz some up and try it.
Thank you! Fresh oregano is so delicious, I hope you like the recipe if you do try it:)
This entire dish sounds perfect Monika and I particularly like the sound of the pesto. I love experimenting with different herbs but I am yet to try oregano!
Thank you Mandy! We have so much oregano in our garden this year I just HAD to do this pesto, I think fresh oregano is really delicious:)
Oh some lovely ideas here Im sure the asparagus is going to go so well with oregano. Ive not used oregano before to make pesto but it now on my to do list
Thanks Jacqui! I am really enjoying my own herbs from the garden this year so there might be more pesto recipes soon:)
This sounds and looks delicious #cookblogshare
Thank you! Glad you like the recipe:)
I love hazelnuts in pesto but have never tried it paired with fresh oregano, it sounds great and the pasta looks so good 🙂
Thank you Petra! It’s a good combination, everyone in the family really liked it:)
That is always a winner 🙂
This sounds delicious, love how green it is, perfect for spring cooking.
Thank you! It’s very quick and easy to make too:)
Look so delicious!! 😉 Thank you for inspiration and sharing recipe 🙂
Thank you! Glad you like the recipe:)