It’s Prime Time for Pesto
Summer’s nearly here and our herb gardens are doing just fine these days! One of our favorite ways to use up the excess harvest is to make different types of pesto with delicious NutsOnline nuts. So tasty and fresh!
To start, pick and rinse about two cups of fresh herbs. Basil is, of course, the classic choice for pesto, but that shouldn’t stop you from letting your imagination run wild! We love experimenting with cilantro, parsley, thyme and even mint leaves in our pesto creations.
Throw three to six peeled cloves of garlic into a food processor, along with about ¼ cup of chopped nuts. Pine nuts are always a great choice, but any nut or seed that has a relatively high oil content will work out great. We often substitute walnut pieces or pecan pieces, since we’re more likely to have those on hand. Pepitas, unsalted roasted cashews and unsalted roasted pistachios also work fantastically. Process the garlic and nuts until they’re chopped to bits, then add the fresh herbs to the mixture.
Process the herbs with the nuts and garlic for about 30 seconds, then start adding oil through the chute into the running food processor’s bowl. We almost always use olive oil, but you can add 1 to 2 tbsp. of chia oil to the mix for a nutritional boost. Drizzle the oil into the bowl until the pesto starts to resemble a sauce. Turn off the processor, grate some Parmesan cheese into the bowl if you like, and voila! Fresh pesto from your own garden!
Pesto is fabulous spread on sandwiches, drizzled on salads, tossed with pasta or mixed into pizza and bread dough. It also makes a zesty marinade for meat. If you’re having a party, mix about ½ cup of the pesto with a softened block of cream cheese and a few spoonfuls of sour cream to make a tasty herbed dip for crackers or veggie chips. The possibilities are endless!
Have you ever made homemade pesto? What are some of your favorite ingredient combos?
One Response to “It’s Prime Time for Pesto”
Wow! Amazing! I definitely agree, it is AWESOME with pasta! Check out my youtube vid of me making raw pasta with pesto sauce! Yum!
http://bit.ly/RawPastaPestoSauce