This intense sauce is so versatile. Stir through cooked pasta or risotto or use as a dip with hummus, along with sun-blush tomatoes and breadsticks for dipping! Try spreading over chicken or salmon then roast.
This set of ingredients makes about 100g of pesto.
Prep time 20 minutes
What you’ll need:
- 30g flavourful salad leaves
- 2 tbsp pinenuts
- 25g parmesan cheese, coarsely grated
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 clove garlic, peeled
- ½ lemon, zest and juice
What to do:
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If you have a food processor, place all of the ingredients in the bowl and pulse until you have a chunky paste. Alternatively, snip the leaves with scissors as finely as you can, chop the pinenuts and crush the garlic then mix with the rest of the ingredients. It will be more chunky but taste just as nice!
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Serve with breadsticks and chunks of cucumber and carrot or stir through cooked pasta.
The word pesto originates from the Italian word ‘pestara’ meaning to crush or pound. It would most likely have been made with a mortar and pestle, another word with the same origins.
Classically, pesto would have been made with basil but can be made with any fragrant or flavourful leaf like parsley, rocket, watercress or even spinach.
The pinenut is not a nut but a seed.