Walnut Pesto

Pesto – it’s one of those cupboard staples that we rarely think about until we need it. Or get a craving for it.

In fact, it was never really something I thought about in terms of quality until I had some bad pesto. Now I get scared every time I reach up and buy a brand I don’t know at the supermarket.

Much like fajita seasoning, until I started making my own pesto, I never realised quite how bad the jarred stuff is. How it kinda congeals when you leave it in the fridge, and how some are more liquid than others. To be honest, until I started getting older and concentrating more on my health and what I was putting in my body, I never really thought about how bad most tinned and jarred food is. If you want to keep food from going bad for two years, imagine the amount of chemicals and preservatives you have to put into it. Yuck.

Pesto is so versatile and can be used in many quick dishes, including as a fast and easy pasta sauce, or a topping on pizza. If you have a food processor, it’s also super easy to make, and if you double or triple this recipe, you’ll be able to make a batch as big as the jars you can buy in the supermarket, as long as you keep it in an airtight container in the fridge. As it has real butter in it, I wouldn’t keep it like this longer than two or three weeks. But honestly, once you’ve smelled and tasted this pesto, I doubt it will last that long anyway.

Typical pesto is made using pine nuts, but as I had an abundance of walnuts, I wanted to differ the recipe slightly. I have to say that this walnut pesto tastes just as good (if not better) and you get an ever-so-slight crunch from the walnuts, plus a lighter shade of green, which may not scare off children quite as much as the regular stuff.

As I now have a basil plant in my back yard (Oranges from the neighbour’s tree? A basil plant?? I don’t know who I am anymore!) I picked around six or seven big leaves to put in this. I definitely recommend that you invest in some fresh basil for pesto (just buy one of the small packaged bunches from the supermarket if you’re not insane like me and don’t want a plant to water); you just won’t get the same taste or texture if you use the dried stuff.

Walnut Pesto

Recipe by Julia

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

5

minutes

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup walnuts

• 1 garlic clove

• Handful fresh basil leaves (around 6 or 7)

• 2/3 cup Parmesan cheese

• 4 tbsp olive oil

• Salt and pepper

Directions

• Place all of the ingredients into a food processor (or powerful blender) and blend until almost smooth. You may need to add a little more olive oil as you blend, if the pesto is looking a little too thick, or is sticking to the sides of the bowl.
• Season with a little pinch of salt and pepper and either add to your cooking straight away, or store in an airtight container in the fridge.