Ribbon pasta with avocado-basil pesto, roasted pine nuts and cherry tomatoes

Ingredients for 5 servings:

• 75 ml olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 pot of basil
• 4 avocados
• 75 g hard cheese (Grana Padano) (alternatively Parmesan)
• 1 dash of lemon juice
• salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp agave syrup (alternatively honey, sugar, or other sweetener)
• 500 g tagliatelle pasta
• 250 g cherry tomatoes
• 50 g pine nuts

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 10 minutes; Total time approx. 40 minutes

Pour the olive oil into a tall container suitable for blending; a measuring jug is a good idea. Pluck the basil leaves, dice or press the garlic, and add both to the olive oil. Blend with an immersion blender until the desired consistency is reached (I personally like it when you can still see the basic ingredients). Pit the avocados, scoop out the flesh with a spoon, and mash it with a fork on a deep plate until smooth. Add a dash of lemon juice and mix everything well to ensure the avocado mixture retains its color. Add the resulting avocado puree to the olive oil and basil mix and mix everything well. Grate the Grana Padano, add it to the pesto, and stir in. Depending on the desired consistency, you can now add more olive oil. Season the resulting pesto with salt, pepper, lemon juice, and agave syrup or another sweetener. Halve or quarter the cherry tomatoes and cook the pasta in plenty of salted water until al dente. Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan. Drain the pasta and toss with the pesto and tomatoes. Then divide the pasta between plates and sprinkle the toasted pine nuts over the pasta.