The Odd Fork goes vegan, lowcal and gluten free today! After many pinches, it turned out that chickpea pasta is the No1 gluten free option for tasty, nutritious pasta meals. An avocado pesto chickpea pasta was the first successful recipe that turned the Odd Fork into a chickpea pasta fan!

So for the above vegan pasta recipe, the Odd Fork used a medium beetroot which it washed thoroughly, dried and wrapped in aluminum foil. It baked the beetroot in a preheated oven at 400F, for approximately an hour until the beetroot was tender.

Meanwhile, the Odd Fork boiled a portion of its favorite chickpea pasta, drained it but kept one cup of boiled pasta water aside. It soaked into this water 2 tbsps of dried cranberries.
When the beetroot cooled, the Odd Fork unwrapped it, peeled it easily and cut it in small pieces.

For the beet - cranberry pesto the Odd Fork just mixed in its blender the baked beetroot pieces, a tbsp of red vinegar, 2 tbsps of olive oil, a clove of garlic finely chopped, salt, a pinch of hot paprika, a pinch of sweet, red paprika, a pinch of nutmeg, 2 - 3 fresh spearmint leaves, a small spring onion finely chopped and the soaked (and of course drained) cranberries.
The Odd Fork blended well on a high speed all the above until a smooth paste formed. To adjust the thickness of the pesto it added some of the pasta water that had kept aside.

The Odd Fork mixed quickly the warm, boiled pasta with the beet - cranberry pesto and served immediately with fresh chopped parsley and sunflower seeds.