I grew up eating pesto all the time thanks to my dad's garden and amazing cooking skills! The secret is making a big batch when you have tons of fresh greens in the summertime, and freezing it in ice cube trays. Then you can pop out a little pesto whenever you need it! Check out all the ingredients, tips, and more below.
Prep:
-You could give the greens a rough chop at any point during the day as long as they stay covered in the fridge
-Same with the cheese- you can grate that ahead of time (freshly grated cheese is always better than storebought in my opinion- it's worth the extra 2 mins of effort if you can swing it!)
Tips:
-You can use any nut here. I like walnuts but a more traditional pesto recipe calls for pine nuts. Pistachios or almonds would be great too
-To make this vegan you can omit the cheese
Leftovers:
-Cannot recommend enough storing the leftovers in an ice cube tray in the freezer. Then you have fresh pesto all year round, and you don't have to defrost a massive container all at once
The recipe:
Summer Garden Pesto
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 5 minutes
Serves: Makes about a cup of pesto
For the pesto
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/3 cup walnuts
1 cup herbs (I used rainbow chard leaves, basil, and bok choy leaves)
Olive oil drizzled in until you reach your desired consistency
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
Grate your cheese and give a very rough chop to your greens
Add your cheese and nuts to a food processor and pulse a few times
Add in your greens and pulse a few times
Drizzle with olive oil and pulse until you reach your desired consistency. I would start with about 1/4 cup and go from there
Add salt and pepper to taste (go easy on the salt if you are using cheese as the cheese is salty)
Top with some more cheese
Serve and enjoy!
Shopping:
*Some of these may be affiliate links- I appreciate your support!
This immersion blender/food processor combo is the absolute best and takes up very little space in your kitchen cabinets or pantry
An ice cube tray like this would work great for freezing
A microplane is a great way to grate hard cheeses easily
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