Roasted Tomato and Walnut Spread (Vegan)

When you’re eating vegan it can be hard to keep vegetables well…interesting. At some point everything starts tasting the same. Sauces and pestos are a great way to spice things up and can help create a quick and easy meal if you batch enough for it to stick around. I like making my own sauces because almost any store bought sauce is pretty high in calories, oil, and sugar. They’re pretty unhealthy, even if the label claims to be “plant based” or organic.

This recipe is a very simple spread/sauce that you can keep in your fridge with a lot of flavor and it can be used on sandwiches, as a pasta sauce, or as a way to add a little additional flavor to some boring vegetables, it’s especially delicious on toasted bread for an appetizer.

If you can’t get fresh cherry tomatoes you can substitute sundered tomatoes in oil it also makes a wonderful sauce. One of my favorite ways to enjoy this is with angel hair pasta and fresh basil.

Ingredients

3/4 cup of walnuts

2 pinot of whole cherry tomatoes

1/2 cup olive oil

4 cloves of garlic

1/2 tsp chili flakes

1 Tablespoon sea salt

Coat the cherry tomatoes in salt and pepper and 2-3 tablespoons of oil on a line baking sheet and place them in the oven at 300 degrees until shriveled and dried out (about 2 hours). Stir the pan occasionally. Toast the walnut for about 8 minutes until you can just start to smell the nutty rich flavors (careful not to overcook them!)

Add garlic, salt, pepper flakes and tomatoes to the food processor and pulse, add the walnuts and pulse until desire chunky consistency and steam in oil. Add salt to taste if needed.