(*almost)
I can’t claim that there’s anything groundbreaking about my pesto recipe. It’s just the list of ingredients that I have stuck to my fridge that I tweaked a few times until I was happy with it. I’ve wanted to post the recipe for quite a while now to show how versatile it can be if you mix it up a little bit. Fresh herbs can be quite expensive unless you grow your own or find them in the reduced section, as can pine nuts. It’s really easy to switch out the ingredients for other things to suit your meal or your budget.
In case you can’t read my writing, here’s the recipe (makes a generous amount for two):
- One clove of garlic, mashed to a fine paste with a pinch of salt (don’t rely on your food processor to do this for you, pesto is best a bit chunky, and chunky raw garlic is not particularly pleasant)
- 40g leaves
- 20g nuts/seeds/legumes
- Half a tablespoon lemon juice
- Another pinch of salt and plenty of pepper
- Two tablespoons of oil
- One tablespoon (or more) of nooch
First, put just the nuts (or whatever you’re using) in the food processor on their own and pulse a couple of times to get them started.
Then add the rest of the ingredients…
… and pulse a few more times until it’s just blended (i.e. not a purée).
Here are a few examples:
- Pea-sto – peas, a 50:50 mix of mint and basil, and olive oil
- The super-vegan – pumpkin seeds, kale, and hemp oil
- The classic – toasted pine nuts, basil, and olive oil
- The English – podded and cooked broad beans, watercress, and cold-pressed rapeseed oil (here it’s mixed in to some risotto and served with more watercress):
Mrs Veg 
I love your pesto recipe, never mind that is not groundbreaking :-). Your recipe is so simple and I really like the look of the fresh basil. Thank you for the idea to make risotto with it.
First point – that pesto looks amazing and no doubt puts the shop bought stuff to shame. I love fresh pesto!
Second point – excellent use of a blender! Do you use it for any other recipes? Smoothie making perhaps….