Without even realising it, I seem to have become the world’s biggest fan of tostadas. I make them all the time these days! I began with my breakfast tostadas topped with spinach and a fried egg, moved onto quick and easy veggie tostadas with refried beans and guacamole, and now I’ve made these Italian-style tostadas with pesto and parmesan cheese. They’re just such an easy lunch – all you really need are a few mini tortillas (or I suppose a big one if you’re extra hungry), and you can basically top them with whatever you fancy. I often make them as a way to use up whatever veg I have left in the fridge.

These roasted vegetable tostadas are really just as quick and easy as the ones that I actually named ‘quick and easy veggie tostadas’, but I didn’t think I could use the same recipe name twice. I really like using pesto as a sauce – I often use it on pitta bread pizzas. It saves opening a big jar of tomato sauce that will take days to use up, or spending ages making your own. A little jar of pesto will keep for at least a week or so in the fridge, and since the jars are only small you can use them up pretty easily if you need to. Pesto is also far more exciting than plain old tomato sauce, and adds to the Italian feel of these tostadas.

I used sun-dried tomato pesto because it’s what I had on hand, but you could use normal basil pesto, or whatever else you fancy. And you certainly don’t have to be as lazy as I am – although opening a jar of pesto is easy, it doesn’t take too much longer to make your own. If I hadn’t been feeling even more lazy than usual I would have made my sun-dried tomato and black olive pesto.

To make these tostadas, you start by roasting your veg. I used red and yellow peppers and some broccoli (cut into nice small florets), but as I said, you can choose whatever you fancy. Then they just need piling up on your pesto-topped tortilla, topping with some grated parmesan, and popping back in the oven to get nice and melty. It couldn’t be simpler.

More pesto-based recipes:

Cheesy roasted squash lasagne with spinach and walnut pesto
Pesto macaroni cheese
Cheesy aubergine casserole with three green pesto
Spicy chipotle pesto pasta from Damn Delicious
Grilled mascarpone and roasted jalapeño pistachio pesto cheese sandwich from Bev Cooks