GRILLED VEGETABLES WITH CANNELLINI BEANS & VEGAN PESTO

Grilled vegetables with cannellini beans & vegan pesto image

Provided by Melissa Thompson - Journalist and food writer

Categories Dinner

Time 45m

Number Of Ingredients 12

1 large aubergine, sliced lengthways into ½cm slices
2 courgettes, sliced lengthways into ½cm slices
250g cherry tomatoes
400g can cannellini beans
crusty bread, to serve
60g basil leaves
20g parsley leaves
1 small garlic clove
1 lemon, zested and juiced
30g pine nuts, lightly toasted, plus 1 tbsp to serve
2 tsp nutritional yeast
3-4 tbsp olive oil

Steps:

Light the barbecue. For the pesto, blitz the basil, parsley, garlic, lemon zest and juice, 30g pine nuts and nutritional yeast together in a food processor. Mix in the olive oil to loosen and season to taste.
When the coals are ashen, place the aubergine and courgette slices on the grill. Cook for 2-3 mins, then turn and cook for 2-3 mins more until the veg is softened and slightly shrunken. Add the tomatoes to the grill and cook, turning often until the skins have split and the tomatoes soften. Immediately remove from the grill along with the other veg.
Drain the cannellini beans, reserving the liquid from the can, and tip the beans onto a serving platter. Add 2 tbsp of pesto and mix, loosening the bean mixture with some of their reserved liquid.
Add the aubergine and courgette slices to the platter and mix gently until lightly coated in the pesto. Scatter the tomatoes on top, then drizzle with more pesto (you can loosen this with more of the reserved bean liquid, if needed). Sprinkle with the extra 1 tbsp pine nuts and serve with crusty bread.