Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Pasta Salad with Elderberry & Lemon Thyme Elixir

In this pesto recipe, sun-dried tomatoes do the heavy lifting. It's deep, jammy, and a little sweet, with that concentrated tang that fresh tomatoes can't touch. Blitz sun-dried tomatoes together with walnuts, garlic, and a good olive oil, and you've got the base for a sun-dried tomato pesto that's rich enough to coat a whole pound of pasta without disappearing.

The twist here is what replaces the usual splash of red wine vinegar or lemon juice. Instead, we sneak in a couple spoonfuls of Elder & Lemon Thyme Elixir that brings acid and a thread of sweetness in one move.

Toss the finished pesto with pasta, fresh arugula, chickpeas, black olives, cherry tomatoes, and thinly sliced red onion, and you've got a sun-dried tomato pasta salad that's substantial enough for a main dish and bright enough for the middle of summer.

From Your Herbal Pantry:
Elder & Lemon Thyme Elixir

Elder & Lemon Thyme Elixir is an herbal drinking vinegar and oxymel: apple cider vinegar as the base, raw Appalachian honey, and a handful of botanicals including elderberry, thyme, lemon verbena, lemon peel, yarrow, and a touch of wildcrafted spicebush berry. It's sharp and tangy, deeply herbal, and has a slight peppery finish from the spicebush that you don't expect, but immediately notice.

We crafted this elixir as a daily immune support tonic. But unlike traditional elderberry syrup, it's never heated. The enzyme-rich raw vinegar and honey do all the preserving, so it stays bright and alive in a way cooked-down syrups don't.

Elderberry in particular has been studied more than almost any other botanical for immune and antiviral support, with research pointing to meaningful reductions in the duration and severity of illness. And there's something to be said for the small, consistent dose: a tablespoon of something well-made, every day, tends to add up in ways that a reactive approach doesn't.

In this recipe, the vinegar base brings the acidity a good pesto needs to balance all that olive oil and walnut richness, while the honey rounds out the sun-dried tomatoes' natural sweetness. Thyme and lemon verbena echo the fresh thyme already in the recipe, so the elixir isn't only an add-on in flavor, it's doubling down on what's already there. 

→ Grab a bottle of Elder & Lemon Thyme Elixir

HOW TO MAKE
Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Pasta Recipe with Elderberry & Lemon Thyme Elixir

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients:

For the sun-dried tomato pesto:

• 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, packed in olive oil & lightly drained
• 1 cup raw walnuts
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (or 1/4 teaspoon dried)
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons Elder & Lemon Thyme Elixir
• 3/4-1 teaspoon salt, or to taste (Try Night Shade)

For the pasta salad:

• 1 pound pasta of choice, cooked al dente (try rotini, farfalle, or cavatappi)
• 4 cups arugula, loosely packed
• 1 can chickpeas, drained
• 2/3 cup black olives, sliced
• 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

Instructions:

1. Make the pesto. Combine all the pesto ingredients in a food processor and process until evenly combined into a thick paste. Taste and adjust salt as desired.
2. Assemble the pasta salad just before serving. In a large bowl, add pasta and pesto. Toss gently to coat evenly. Then add remaining ingredients and toss again.
3. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-5 days.

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Elder & Lemon Thyme Elixir